Harry Potter and the Amulet of Era's
by Gryffindors-Light
Summary: Harry is now in his sixth year at Hogwarts. post OotP Peculiar things happen and it turns out that our Voldie has his mind set on a magical object that is supposed to be at Hogwarts. He will do anything to get it, including murdering R&R please
1. Tears and Bruises

_A/N_: Right, a few points before I start this story, I'll try to be quick:

Ok, so this is my first ever story so please be gentle! I did put in some stuff that I read in other stories, so if you see anything that's yours, tell me, so I can give you credit, ok?

My second point: I am _NOT_ J.K. Rowling so don't expect this to be a masterpiece (otherwise I wouldn't be putting this on the internet) and if you don't like where this story is going, don't go writing non-sense flames and just search for another story that you _do_ like, there are plenty.

And last of all, this story is not exactly as post OotP as I had wanted and some things are a bit over the top, but I hope you guys can bear that. And the story gets loads better after a couple of chapters.

Hope you like it:

**Chapter 1: Tears and Bruises**

_A high, cold cruel voice rang through the air, breaking the unbearable silence at last. "What is it," it said, almost in a bored tone._

_"H-he is waiting outside, m-master."_

_"Well, bring him in, you useless fool!" The malicious voice spat, before sighing in anger._

_"Yes, m-master." The short fat man scuttled out of the room and reentered it a few seconds later, with another man who was quite the opposite; he was tall, thin and still had all of his hair._

_"Thank you, Wormtail. You may leave," said Voldemort, uncaringly waving his hand in the direction of the exit. His voice alone made the two men shudder. "What do you have, to report to me?" He turned to the tallest one, who had just entered._

_"Nothing, sir. I still have not gained any information." The Dark Lord thought for a moment._

_"Very well, you may also leave." The man turned around and left the room. The other stayed in his seat and reached out to pat the large snake that kept circling his chair, which stood in the middle of a dark and gloomy room. The snake hissed at his master and then continued to circle. "Yes, Nagini, it seems my plan is not working too well, but maybe it will pay off later. I need every information I can get in order to make my plan work flawlessly," he hissed back._

* * *

Harry Potter sat straight up in bed, clutching his scar. He'd had a dream, or rather a nightmare, about some large snake that talked to a man about a plan not working too well. It was often now that he had such nightmares. The pain in his scar subsided slowly and he looked around the room. He wanted to be everywhere but here, in this house.

After slowly stumbling out of bed, he walked over to his window. It was still dark outside and the street lamps lit Privet Drive weakly. A few leaves could be seen floating through the air under the direct light of the streetlamps, but besides them nothing else showed up under their feeble glow, yet still Harry felt uncomfortable. It felt as if someone, or something, was watching him from the shadows outside. He sat on his bed and stared at his desk where crumpled up pieces of parchment lay. He had tried to write to Sirius a dozen times so far, only to remember that his godfather was dead.

His eyes slowly moved to the corner of his desk where Hedwig's empty cage stood. She still hadn't returned from the hunt that had begun a few nights ago. Harry looked around his room and heaved a great sigh. He wished he could go to Hogwarts, but that wasn't until September first and it was now the thirty-first of July. '_What?_' He thought, looking once more at his clock, which also showed the date. It was six fifteen, which meant that he had been sixteen for six hours and fifteen minutes already.

Of course he wasn't overly exited; he never received any presents from the Dursley's and his friends hadn't written to him at all the summer, like last year, unless you count the time they had sent a letter together asking how he was doing. That had been it, one crummy letter asking if he was all right. Of course he wasn't! What did they expect? That he was bouncing off the walls with joy?

Harry put his head on his pillow and slowly drifted off to sleep again, feeling very lonely.

**

* * *

**

A soft hoot woke Harry up and he found himself staring in the amber eyes of his owl, which had her head cocked to one side, as if inspecting him. "Hedwig!" He exclaimed softly. "You're back!" He stroked the top of her head with much fondness and she nipped affectionately at his fingers. "For a while you had me thinking you'd left me." Hedwig hooted again. Harry's reaction hadn't been overly exaggerated; Hedwig was the only one in this neighborhood that had a connection with magic like he did. Of course there was Mrs. Figg but she was busy with the Ministry a lot lately. Besides, his owl always seemed to understand how he was feeling.

"Glad to see you again." Harry whispered as he stroked Hedwig's head. His owl gave yet another hoot and then perched herself on his shoulder, revealing a small packet of gifts on his bed. A smile, something he hadn't worn for a long time, made it's way onto Harry's face as he grabbed the one nearest to him, which was pretty large, and pulled off the card.

_Dear Harry,_

_Bin a bit busy with some things lately so I had no time ter write ter yeh, but I hope this present makes up fer it a bit. I'm quite sure yeh'll like it. (I had no time ter wrap it in decent wrapping paper, either.)_

_Hagrid._

_P.S. Hope yer doin' all right over there._

Harry picked up the package again and thought Hagrid was right: the wrapping paper wasn't exactly what you'd call decent. It seemed like recycled toilet paper. But he couldn't care less as he ripped the toilet paper off. A large crimson colored photo album lay in his hands. He opened it and saw that Hagrid had scribbled a note on the first page:

_Yeh can never have enough photo albums, eh? Asked everyone fer more pictures of yer parents… an' Sirius. Hope yeh enjoy it._

Tears formed in Harry's eyes as he flipped the page. The first picture was probably the most recent. It was in the lovely living room of Sirius' house. He stood there smiling and waving. Most of the pictures contained Sirius but a few showed his parents during their Hogwarts years and the years after.

Harry carefully laid the album down and reached for the next present, though he doubted it could surpass Hagrid's album.

_Dear Harry,_

_I am currently in Greece with my parents. The weather is lovely and the food is absolutely delicious. I was a bit surprised when I found Hedwig sitting in my hotel room (how on earth could she have known I was here?) but I immediately gave her the gift I had bought for you a few days ago. I do hope you like it._

_Have a good summer!_

_Love,_

_Hermione_

Harry unwrapped the neatly wrapped package and found a whole bunch of sweets in his lap. All of them were sugar free, of course; her parents were dentists. Most sweets Harry recognized but a few were unfamiliar to him and he guessed they were Greek. He grabbed one and stuffed it in his mouth as he reached for the next package that contained a note. He almost knew for sure it was from Ron.

_Dear Harry,_

_I've been a bit busy the last few days to write to you; Fred and George keep trying to test their new inventions on me and I'm awfully careful now. Once they ambushed me as I was walking down the stairs: we rolled down three flights and when we landed in the hall downstairs they stuffed some bitter tasting candy in my mouth and I sprouted seven extra ears. Mum was beside herself with rage, needless to say, and her scolding carried all the way to the attic: the ghoul, unfortunately, heard her and started banging things against the pipes for hours, even when Mum had finished shouting._

_Anyways, I bought your present in Diagon Alley last time I was there with my mum and I really hope you like it. (She sent you something, too, I don't know if it's arrived yet.)_

_Ron_

Harry unwrapped the package and found himself holding a book called: _Quidditch Like You've Never Known It Before_. The cover was a soft shade of yellow, the title jumping out in a bright purple.

"Brilliant," Harry muttered to himself. The next presents weren't nearly as great but he appreciated it all the same. He had received Mrs. Weasley's mince pies, a pair of socks that didn't match from Dobby; one was green with wands on it, the other blue with sparkling stars, and a book with all sorts of different spells from Remus Lupin.

Harry held Lupin's gift in his hands thinking there was now only one of the Marauder's left that was truly a Marauder; Wormtail, of course, was a traitor. He was just thinking more about Sirius when there was a loud hammering on his bedroom door. Harry hurriedly wiped his tears away and then opened the door. Aunt Petunia stood there, her lips forming a tight line and her beady eyes glaring at him.

"Yes?" Harry asked, trying not to sound too rude.

"Something has arrived for you downstairs," she said curtly while still glaring at him.

"Er… All right," Harry said. Aunt Petunia turned around swiftly and then went back downstairs. Harry closed the door, got dressed and then walked downstairs, wondering why either someone would send him something by mail or why the owl hadn't delivered the message straight to him. He entered the kitchen where Uncle Vernon sat sipping his coffee while reading a newspaper and where Dudley sat grumpily eating a small piece of melon; he was still on his special diet, though no immediate effect could be seen.

"Er… Aunt Petunia said something had arrived for me," Harry said. Uncle Vernon looked up, his eyes narrowed.

"On the counter," he grunted. As Harry walked over to the counter, where a furry gray lump lay, Uncle Vernon yelled: "AND IF THOSE NUTTERS EVER SEND ANYTHING ELSE TO US YOU'LL NOT BE GOING BACK TO THAT SCHOOL!" Causing Harry to jump a little in shock. Harry picked the furry lump up, wondering what it was, when it emitted a soft hoot. He nearly dropped it in fright, but controlled himself.

"Thanks," he said to Uncle Vernon and then went back to his room carrying what appeared to be an owl; nothing else hoots, does it? Normally Dudley would've followed him upstairs to taunt him, but lately he appeared to be in too grumpy a mood lately to be teasing Harry much, not that Harry minded.

He laid the owl on his bed and sat down on the floor, watching it. After about a second or so the owl lifted its head and Harry realized which one it was –

"Errol!" He exclaimed. Errol gave a frail hoot and stuck out its leg. Harry took the piece of parchment off and then set Errol in Hedwig's cage so he could regain his strength. He then unfolded the parchment and read the letter.

_Dear Harry,_

_Mum said that you were allowed to spend the rest of the summer with us but since Hedwig has just left with your gift she said I could use Errol to send this. Personally I don't think he'd live to deliver another letter, but prove me wrong and send a reply back ASAP. We're picking you up with Ministry cars today at half past five (p.m.) whether the Muggles let you leave or not._

_Wait, I think I hear Fred and George sneaking up on me. Hold on… No, just my imagination, but I'm seriously paranoid. Why can't they test their stuff on Ginny? Or Percy… that'll shut him up about_

But just then his writing trailed off of the parchment and Harry was pretty sure Fred and George had strapped Ron down to the ground and popped some new invention of theirs in his mouth.

_Sorry Harry but I have to go after Fred and George now. See you at five thirty._

_Ron_

Harry folded the piece of parchment back up and went downstairs. All he had to do now was ask Uncle Vernon if it was all right that he spent the rest of the summer vacation at Ron's. It seemed like an easy task but Harry knew it was exactly the opposite. He entered the kitchen and found his uncle still reading the newspaper. Dudley was nowhere to be seen. He was probably out beating up some kids with his gang.

"Excuse me, uncle Vernon?" asked Harry. His uncle looked up, eyes narrowing as they always did when Harry was around.

"What?" his uncle snapped.

"I was wondering if it was all right if I spent the rest of my summer vacation at Ron's house. They're picking me up at five thirty this evening," said Harry.

"_How_ are they picking you up?" Grunted Uncle Vernon.

"By car," replied Harry.

"All right, then. But you better stay away the rest of summer and stay at that ruddy school of yours over the winter and Easter vacations. I don't want you ruining our holidays," Uncle Vernon said. Harry smiled, inwardly.

"All right, then," he said and then walked back up to his room, planning to pack his things already.

**

* * *

Five thirty that evening could not have come slower. For a while Harry had actually thought someone had set the clocks to go so slow on purpose. He walked downstairs carrying his trunk and owl cage, with Hedwig and Errol in it, and set them in the hall. He then entered the living room but walked almost immediately back into the hall; Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were in the living room and he didn't feel like waiting with them. Instead he sat down on the stairs watching the door.**

Finally the bell rang and Harry jumped up to answer. When he opened the door he looked into the grinning face of Ron who had grown another few inches, though he himself had gotten quite taller, too.

"Hey, mate. We're here to pick you up," Ron said and then peered inside the house. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia walked into the hall, looking very disapproving.

"I'll just grab my stuff," said Harry and he grabbed his trunk and owl cage and walked outside in the cool, crisp air. Mr. Weasley put Harry's things in the back of the car and then walked over to Harry's Aunt and Uncle, no doubt wanting to catch a glimpse of the interior of the house.

"Bye," Harry told the Dursley's and he waved at Dudley, who was peering curiously out of one of the windows. Uncle Vernon grunted in return and Aunt Petunia's lips formed an even thinner line than before. Harry got into the back seat with Ron and Mr. Weasley seated himself behind the steering wheel after having failed to catch a glance of some Muggle items. They drove off and Harry felt a lot happier than he had done waking up.

* * *

But when Mr. Weasley stopped the car Harry looked around and his heart sank; they stood in front of Sirius' house, or at least the two houses beside it. When he thought of the address given by Dumbledore, Sirius' dark home appeared, shoving the other two houses aside. Slowly Harry walked inside, knowing the rest of the summer vacation wasn't going to be as great as it would have been at the Burrow.

* * *

Harry stayed awake for hours every night when he tried to fall asleep. It was really hard to drift off, for thoughts of Sirius came floating in and out of his mind, and whenever a happy memory of Sirius came, tears would streak down Harry's face and fall on his pillow. He often looked in the photo album he had received from Hagrid and thoughts would enter his mind of a life where Sirius was still alive and no longer accused of the murder he had never committed but had, instead, been Wormtail's fault.

Righteous fury flowed through Harry's body. Fury for the man that had ruined his life from the beginning, fury because not only did he not have his parents, but now he also didn't have a Godfather either, he had no family at all. '_At least you have three great friends, and you'll see the other two on the Hogwarts Express tomorrow, or at Hogwarts_.' Hogwarts: his true home, the place where he was always welcome and where he always had the best time of his life. Hogwarts. With those thoughts he fell into a dreamless sleep, but agonizing pain stayed with him every second.

* * *

"No! Stop hitting her! Stop it! STOP!" Hermione screamed as her father slapped her mother hard. Her best friend, Nora, just stood in a corner and watched what Hermione had to put up with often this summer, though this was certainly not the usual behavior of Mr. Granger. It almost seemed as if someone had switched Hermione's father with an impostor that looked exactly the same, but acted differently.

Hermione watched her father, tears streaming down her face. She had no idea why he was acting this way. He had always been so nice when she was little. He had never shown any signs of violence until the beginning of this summer. Hermione looked at him and she could see the hurt in his eyes. The pain filled them to the brim. She just could not figure it out, it didn't matter how much she pained her brain, it was a complete, horrible, mystery to her: her father would be inquisitive about her and her school of magic and then somehow he ended up hitting her mother, but always looking like he didn't want to. But then why did he do it?

After a few minutes of being beaten, Mrs. Granger fell to the floor unconscious. "NO!" Hermione yelled and ran to her mother. '_Oh, thank god,_' she thought, feeling a pulse. Mr. Granger hurried out of the house and into his car and then he drove away.

"Where is he going?" Nora asked softly, slowly walking over to Hermione, watching Mr. Granger drive off.

"He always does that. He'll come back in a few hours," Hermione answered quietly, not daring to look at her friend. "It's so strange. As if someone's forcing him. But this will give us a chance to call an ambulance for my mum."

"And what are you going to tell the doctors? That she got those bruises just from sitting?"

"No, we'll tell them that she… that she… we'll tell them that she fell down the stairs, ok? Please don't tell them my father did this, please, he doesn't mean to hit her. I can see it in his eyes. Usually he's just like he used to be, nice and caring, but then sometimes…" Hermione trailed off. "I know it's very strange, but please don't tell anyone," she begged. Nora sighed.

"Yes, fine. I'll keep my mouth shut," she said, looking encouragingly at her friend. Tears were already filling her eyes, and it wasn't even her father hitting her mother, but Hermione's.

Ten minutes later the ambulance arrived and took Hermione's mother to the hospital. Nora and Hermione had to stay at home but they would receive a call when the doctors had found out if Mrs. Granger was ok. It was the most horrible time of their lives… of course, at the time they didn't know things could get even worse.

**

* * *

**

"Well? What did they say? Is she all right?" Hermione asked Nora eagerly, but very anxiously. She had been too scared by what the doctors might say that she made Nora answer the phone.

"Your mum's in no danger at moment," Nora answered apprehensively.

"YES! She's fine! Thank God! But wait… why aren't you happy?" Hermione questioned, terrified of the answer.

"Er… well, she's in a coma…"

Twenty minutes later, when Hermione was still in shock, Nora was bustling around the Granger's kitchen making little ice packs for Hermione's bruises; she had taken a few hits from her father as well, but usually only by accident, it seemed. Even Nora had gotten a few hits from him, at times when he was most confused and befuddled, but she'd decided that she would still sleep over, to take care of Hermione. They were going to Hogwarts tomorrow anyway, and then they could get away for almost an entire year.

"You don't have to sleep over, you can go home if you want too," Hermione said hoarsely after fifteen minutes.

"No, that's ok, I'd rather stay here with you… unless you want to sleep over at my house? I can write my mother to send us some floo powder…" Nora's parents were both Muggle-born and had gone to Hogwarts, too, but they lived as normal Muggles, using their wands mostly for chores, like Mrs. Weasley does.

"I wish I could, but my stuff is here, and my dad would be furious if he found out I went out of the house at night without his permission, besides he's going to bring us to Kings Cross tomorrow, so we might as well stay," Hermione replied. Nora nodded understandingly, intending on staying with Hermione no matter what.

They went to bed a little while later. Though both of them couldn't sleep they didn't talk all night long as they usually did, but just stayed quiet, thoughts racing through their minds, feeling quite happy that they were going back to Hogwarts tomorrow.

**

* * *

**

_A/N_: I hope you liked this chapter. (The chapters will get longer as the story proceeds.) Also Mr. Granger's weird behavior is explained in a later chapter and the first ten chapters of this story are more to get the whole thing started. After those it gets better and you'll see more of Harry, too.


	2. Aboard The Hogwarts Express

_A/N_: Hope you like it…

**Chapter 2: Aboard The Hogwarts Express**

Mr. Granger yelling that they were going to be late if they didn't come out of bed soon awoke Hermione and Nora that morning. They had a small breakfast; neither of them was very hungry after the events that happened last night. Mr. Granger came in after a few minutes and told them to hurry up or they'd be late. The two girls quickly entered the hallway where their trunks lay and put them in the car along with Crookshanks and Nora's snowy white owl Siberia. Her little sister had named it that and it wouldn't listen to anything else anymore. How annoying siblings could be!

They both took seats in the car waiting for Mr. Granger to drive them. Neither of them could wait to start their sixth year at Hogwarts.

This year Dumbledore had decided to change things on the matter of Head Boy and Head Girl. He had decided that four sixth years would be Heads now, two boys and two girls, since the seventh years were usually too busy with their N.E.W.T's.

When Nora and Hermione had received their Hogwarts letters with a list of school supplies, they had also both received a Head Girl badge and their OWL results. Hermione had gotten twelve OWL's, of course, she was too bright to receive less, and Nora had gotten ten. Harry and Ron had sent Pigwidgeon with their results and the little owl zoomed 'round and 'round while the two girls read the letter:

_Dear Nora and Hermione,_

_We've just received our OWL results and I wanted to tell you that we both have seven OWL's! I, for one, hadn't expected to get so many. We're currently staying at Sirius' old house… I really think it's killing Harry; he can't sleep and he says he has a lot of 'weird dreams'. He won't talk about them, though, but I can tell he really misses Sirius._

_Ron_

The ride to King's Cross was quite silent and Mr. Granger behaved in a normal way, like he hadn't put his wife into a coma the day before. Of course he didn't know. But this really was the Mr. Granger Hermione and Nora had known since they were little.

"Good bye, sweety, have a fun time at Hogwarts. Enjoy yourselves," Mr. Granger said as he started to drive away. The two girls waved him off before walking to platform 9 ¾. After making sure that no one was watching they casually slipped through the secret barrier. They were just on time to catch the train and as soon as the two had found a compartment to themselves the train began moving.

"I'm going to find Harry and Ron. I'll tell them that we want our own compartment. Don't worry," Nora added quickly, noticing Hermione's worried face, "I'll tell them we need to talk or something, ok? They'll probably just think it's about something girly." Hermione chuckled, despite the way she felt. So Nora left their compartment and searched for her other best friends. She found them in a compartment along with Ginny, Neville and Luna.

"Hi, can I talk to you two outside for a minute?" she asked Harry and Ron quietly and then went into the corridor, waiting for the two boys to come too.

"What's up? We didn't see you get on the train; we thought you'd missed it. How come you're not sitting with us?" asked Ron.

"Well we wanted our own compartment. Because we ehm… well, we need to talk about some stuff," Nora replied vaguely.

"Oh, right," Harry said to Ron, who was looking puzzled. "Girl talk, we better not get in the way, we wouldn't understand a thing."

"Oh, right." Then they both went into their compartment and talked to Ginny. Nora was a bit befuddled; she hadn't thought they'd buy it that quickly. She shook her head slightly while heading back to her compartment. Harry and Ron could be so thick sometimes. Nora took a seat across from Hermione, who was reading a book, and knew, by the fact that Hermione's wasn't moving her eyes at all, that she shouldn't disturb her best friend as she was obviously thinking about her father. Slowly a tear rolled down Hermione's cheek and soon another one followed. Nora pretended not to notice. '_Poor Hermione, all that trouble in her family_,' she thought. '_I hope her mum's all right; at least she treated Hermione like a daughter. Though I don't know what's making her dad act so strangely. He's never hit his family or been so violent. On the contrary: he once tried to save a fly drowning in his soup… Lord save us all, not that creep Malfoy again. Why can't the stupid prick just leave us alone for one day?_'

"Well hello there, mudbloods." Hermione snapped her head up, clearly shocked, and quickly wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. Apparently she hadn't noticed Malfoy enter. "Where are you're boyfriends, Potty and Weasel? Did they decide you mudbloods weren't good enough to them? That's the smartest move they've made in five years," he said smirking.

"Oh, stuff it Malfoy. Why can't you just leave us alone?" replied Nora furiously. She looked beside Malfoy before continuing. "Besides, where are your bodyguards Crabbe and Goyle? Did they finally decide they were sick of protecting a small squirmy ferret like you?" Malfoy's eyes narrowed and he glared around him to see if anyone had heard.

"Is that all you can come up with Glassyd? What happened? Did all of your brain cells fall out through that big, fat open mouth of yours?" Malfoy retorted, recovering from his shock rapidly. '_Note to self, Draco, come up with better insults and comebacks_.'

"Oh just leave, you prick," Nora said furiously, standing up and grabbing her wand. She glared into his ice-cold gray eyes for a few seconds before shoving him out of the compartment and closing the door. Then she sat down and stared outside at the slowly changing scenery only to doze off after a while, leaving Hermione alone so she could think.

**

* * *

**

Harry got out of the Ministry car with Ron at King's Cross. Mrs. Weasley led them to platform 9 ¾ and ordered them through it in pairs; afraid they were going to be late. Harry casually leant against the barrier with Ron and their trolleys and fell through it. Instantly platform 9 ¾ materialized in front of them and a great purple steam engine stood there, waiting, more Hogwarts students standing in front of it, saying goodbye to their families. Harry and Ron got on the train and put their stuff in a free compartment before walking back to Mrs. Weasley."Now you kids take good care, all right? And don't get into any trouble," she added firmly, eyeing her children and Harry with suspicion.

"We won't, mum," Ron muttered, a little agitated.

"Goodbye, then. Have a great year," Mrs. Weasley told them and she gave Ginny, Ron and Harry a big hug before steering them back onto the train. Harry and Ron walked to the back for a compartment with Ginny to find Neville and Luna sitting in one. The three joined them and Ginny immediately began talking to Luna, exited about a new year at Hogwarts.

"Where are Hermione and Nora?" Ron asked Harry, who was staring out of the window.

"Beats me. Maybe they overslept and only just got on?" he replied.

"I don't think so. We're already moving," said Ron.

"What? Really?" asked Harry. He looked out of the window. "Blimey. Where can they be?" As if answering his question Nora stepped inside their compartment.

"Hi, can I talk to you two outside for a minute?" she them quietly. The two boys nodded and stepped outside into the corridor where Nora was waiting.

"What's up? We didn't see you get on the train; we thought you'd missed it. How come you're not sitting with us?" Ron asked her.

"Well, we wanted our own compartment. Because we ehm… well, we need to talk about some stuff," Nora replied vaguely.

"Oh, right," Harry said to Ron, who was looking very puzzled. "Girl talk, we better not get in the way, we wouldn't understand a thing."

"Oh, right." Then the two boys both went into their compartment and talked to Ginny while Luna was reading the Quibbler, right side up, and Neville was taking care of his Mimbulus Mimbletonia, which had grown to an alarmingly large size and snarled when agitated.

Time passed fairly quickly while Harry and Ron were playing exploding snap. Soon the lunch trolley arrived and in half an hour all the food was gone again. Sometimes a few people would come in and have a little chat. So far Seamus and Dean had stopped by with Parvati and Lavender.

Harry and Ron were about to start yet another game of exploding snap when the compartment door slid open again. Ron groaned as he saw who it was. Harry looked up.

"What do you want, Malfoy," he said automatically while thinking: '_Every year_.'

"Nothing. Just wanted to check how you were doing now that your dear Godfather has been… well, murdered," replied Malfoy quietly, a sneer on his face. Harry glared, trying not to look stricken.

"Stuff it, Blondie," Ron said bitterly. It was obvious he was working very hard to not attack Malfoy right then and there.

"Calm down, Weasel. Your family might not be able to afford the medical bills if you get into a fight with me now. I'd hate to think of what they'd have to sell. I know that house of yours won't bring up that much money, if you can call it a house," Malfoy snapped. Ron let out a cry of anger and leapt at Malfoy. He would've gotten a few hits if Ginny hadn't been holding on to his robes.

"Get lost," Harry snarled as he stood up. Malfoy didn't budge. "I said get lost." When Malfoy still wouldn't move Harry pushed him into the corridor and slammed the compartment door shut, fuming with rage.

**

* * *

**

After some time the food trolley being pushed outside their compartment woke Nora and Hermione up. They both bought a bit of everything and began to eat rather rapidly, having only had a very small breakfast. When the food was gone and their stomachs were filled they both put on their Hogwarts Robes and decided to read a while.Gradually it grew darker and darker until the scenery outside was nothing but dark towering figures. Hermione looked outside and stared deep into the dark, feeling somewhat comforted by the darkness surrounding their train. At seven p.m. the Hogwarts Express halted and everybody got off, heading for the 'horseless' carriages that would take them to the Castle. The first-years, of course, had to cross the lake instead, as it was some sort of a tradition.

Nora and Hermione got off the train and climbed into one of the carriages. A few minutes later Harry and Ron joined.

"Hey," the two girls said but the boys just grunted in reply.

"What happened?" asked Hermione. Ron looked resolutely out of the window, leaving Harry to answer.

"Malfoy," he said.

"Ahhhh. Yes, we got a little visit from him, too," Nora told him. Harry nodded but Ron was still staring out of the window as they were pulled up to the Castle; he was a bit embarrassed by what Malfoy had said.

Nora and Hermione had placed themselves across Harry and Ron at the Gryffindor table and were chatting happily. Hermione was starting to be herself again, all of her worries washed away as she looked around the familiar Great Hall with its beautiful decoration and amazing ceiling that was enchanted to show the sky outside. Finally professor McGonagall came into the great hall leading a long line of first-years. She set the sorting hat onto a four-legged stool and for a moment everyone stared at it expectantly, then a tear near the brim opened at the hat broke out into a song:

_You may think I'm frayed and tattered,_

_But do not get me wrong,_

_For I am the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,_

_(I sort you where you belong)._

_There is nothing in your little heads,_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_Just put me on and I'll tell you,_

_Where you ought to be._

_Possibly you'll be put in Gryffindor,_

_When you've courage left to spare,_

_Those bold and daring actions,_

_Are never too much to bear._

_Or perhaps it'll be Slytherin,_

_If you've cunning that reaches the top,_

_and the shrewd and clever plans,_

_That no one will be able to stop._

_But maybe it'll be Ravenclaw,_

_When you've got eagerness for learning,_

_And you're desire to gain knowledge,_

_Impatiently burning._

_And otherwise it'll be Hufflepuff,_

_When loyalty is you,_

_When you are great at keeping secrets_

_And always remaining true._

_These are the Hogwarts houses,_

_(There are four of them, if you must know),_

_And each has different qualities,_

_(One of which you all clearly show)._

_But now I'll quiet down,_

_So let's get on with the Sorting,_

_But don't get yourself too excited,_

_For I think it's rather boring._

Ron massaged his stomach all through the sorting, occasionally muttering things like: "Who cares where they're sorted, as long as I get to eat," or "Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!" Hermione glared at him every so often.

"Ron!" she whispered. "There are more important things in the world than food!" Ron looked at her with a blank expression.

"Like what?" he whispered as his stomach gave a loud rumble.

"Like elf rights!" she snapped quietly before clapping along with the rest of the Gryffindors as a timid looking girl walked over and sat down at their table.

After all of the first years had been sorted Dumbledore stood up to make his annual speech. Ron groaned and he started massaging his stomach again.

"Welcome or welcome back. Pick whichever you like," Dumbledore began. The Gryffindor four all thought that he looked a lot older and wearier than last time he had seen him. "I hope that this year will be another magical experience teaching you all sorts of things that you can forget immediately next summer." There was a hearty laugh and Dumbledore smiled down at them. "Before we begin a delicious meal there are a few important topics. First of all the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all students. Second of all, Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has asked me, for what he thinks is the six hundred and eighty-seventh time, to say that magic is not allowed in the corridors or out of classes and that the list of forbidden items can be found in his office. Now the last thing I have to say is important, and I need you all to pay attention: Lord Voldemort is back, more powerful than ever, and we must stick together and unite. Only then can we stand strong and fight... Having said that: dig in!" he finished and he sat down in his seat. It took a while before everyone began clapping, and when they did it was altered by whispers of fear, but the food smelled brilliantly in front of them and they were rather hungry so they were not bothered for too long. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Nora began piling a bit of everything on their plates and eating it.

"Ron! Calm down! This is not a race!" exclaimed Hermione quietly as she watched Ron fill his mouth greedily with a revolted look on her face.

"So?" he asked as he started chewing.

"Oh, Merlin," muttered Hermione as she looked away.

"Hermione's right, Ron. That's really repulsive," Nora told him, making a face, but he just shrugged.

"Then don't watch," he replied, his mouth full to exploding point. Harry sniggered at the sight but stopped when Hermione and Nora shot him dark looks.

"If looks could kill…" he muttered to himself.

After the feast the new prefects led the first years to their dormitories while Harry and Ron said "Good night," to Hermione and Nora, who would be sharing a different common room with the prefects and other Head's.

"Who do you think are the other Heads?" asked Hermione anxiously as Harry and Ron walked up the Marble Staircase.

"I have no idea," Nora replied. "Are you sure we have to wait here?"

"Yes, it said so in the Hogwarts letter," Hermione answered. Just then Malfoy walked over along with Terry Boot, a sixth year Ravenclaw.

"_Malfoy?_" exclaimed Nora quietly to Hermione, feeling disgusted. "Malfoy's a Head?" Hermione was too shocked to reply. Just then Dumbledore entered the Entrance Hall and told them to follow him. He led them to their own common room, somewhere between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw dorms, and the two girls gasped when they entered it, appalled by its beauty.

**

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_**A/N**_: That's it for now, hope you liked it. (Chapters will get longer, trust me).


	3. The Common Room

_A/N_: Uhm… this chapter may be a bit boring…

**Chapter 3: The Common Room**

Nora and Hermione automatically gasped as Dumbledore led them into their new common room with Terry and Malfoy bringing up the rear. The room was large and circular with a large circular carpet in the middle and across the room on the other side was a large fireplace with a fire crackling merrily inside, casting eerie shadows around them, as it was the only source of light. At both sides of the carpet were two large ruby colored velvet chairs and facing the fireplace was a very comfortable, and large, sofa. At the right and left sides of the room, behind the chairs, were two doors, which had a different house banner each, that led to the Prefect's bedrooms. On the left sides were the Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw banners, on the right side were the Slytherin and Hufflepuff banners. Above the large carpet was a beautiful chandelier though it emitted no light coming at the moment. Large windows went all the way from the floor to the ceiling, about seven meters high, and were hidden behind beautiful satin curtains.

The walls beside the entrance, where the five of them stood, were covered in shelves that carried hundreds and hundreds of books. Hermione immediately went over to them and ran her fingers over the covers of the books trying to decide which one to read first.

Next to the fireplace was a circular stairway that led to a hallway with again two doors on each side. These doors led to the rooms of the Head's. On the left were Nora's and Hermione's rooms and on the right Terry's and Malfoy's. The rooms were all the same: Large with a king-size bed, a large closet and a desk at which they could work. The windows were draped in satin curtains too, just like in the common room. At the end of the Hall were two bathrooms. They were the same and the Heads could use either bathroom, but as there were four heads now, it was decided there would be two, so no one had to wait. Both bathrooms had a large bathtub that was the size of a small swimming pool with golden taps all along it, each containing different types of bath foam. There was a large "counter" with two sinks and a large mirror above each one. Then there was an open closet, which contained the very fluffy, white towels. Both girls had to work very hard to stop themselves from squealing when they entered the bathrooms. Malfoy and Terry, on the other hand, looked like they could've dropped dead out of boredom at any given moment.

"I think it's time for bed now. From the looks of your faces you didn't get too much sleep last night. Classes will start on Monday; you will get your schedules tomorrow morning. Now, the reason that I have made the heads sixth years is because the seventh year students are going to be quite busy studying for their N.E.W.T's. The reason why I have made _four_ Heads, instead of two, is because four can contain better control during chaos, which will be inevitable. I can sense it," Dumbledore said, finishing quietly and attentively. Then he turned around and left, undoubtedly to his office.

"I forgot we still have the weekend before term starts again," Hermione said, "Usually school starts the day after we get back."

"I know. But I'm going to bed now. Goodnight," Nora said lazily, after having yawned a jaw-cracking yawn. Then she headed towards her bedroom.

"Goodnight," Hermione replied and after one last glare at Malfoy she entered her room too. '_Bloody git with his bloody smirks,_' she muttered after she closed her door.

The girls changed into their pajamas and got into bed. "Ooooh, soft!" Hermione exclaimed to her dark, and empty, room. But now that there was nothing to take her mind off of things, she remembered her mother and her father and cried herself quietly to sleep.

Malfoy and Terry went downstairs to the common room. They sat down in the chairs before the fireplace and talked a little before they entered their rooms and dozed off, too.

* * *

Harry and Ron made their way up the Marble Staircase and through the corridors, heading towards the Gryffindor common room.

"I am exhausted," muttered Ron as they reached the Fat Lady.

"Me too," said Harry. "MimbleWimble," he told the portrait; Nora and Hermione had given them the password before they had left. The Fat Lady smiled down on them before swinging open on her hinges. Harry and Ron climbed through the hole and walked into the common room. It was fairly crowded and they had to weave through the students to get to their favorite seats in front of the joyfully crackling fireplace. They both dropped themselves in the comfy chairs and sat watching the fire burn brightly for a while.

"It's a bit odd, isn't it?" asked Harry after a few minutes of silence. Ron nodded.

"Yeah. We should've heard something about going to bed or asking people to join S.P.E.W. by now, shouldn't we?" He replied.

"Or that we should try and get a head start this year and begin studying some of our school books already," Harry added.

"Good one," said Ron grinning. Then after a while: "I kind of miss them."

"Me too. It's quite boring, isn't it?"

"Yes, this is what it'll be like for the rest of the year, though, won't it? Us just sitting here in silence, wishing the girls were here to ignore."

"I guess…"

"Let's go to bed. I'm bored," said Ron. Harry laughed, but nodded.

"Yeah, all right," he replied. The two got up and made their way through the common room and up the boys' dormitory. When they reached their room they entered and found it empty. They both undressed and got into bed.

"That felt weird, didn't it?" asked Ron.

"I know, usually we're one of the last ones to leave the common room and Seamus, Dean and Neville are always here in bed when we come," said Harry. The two boys lay down in their beds and were left in silence once again.

"Good night, mate," said Ron after a while.

"Good night," replied Harry, unable to think of a time when he and Ron had been so bored and incapable to come up with anything to talk about. Slowly, but very slowly, the two dozed off.

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_A/N_: I know it's a small chapter but the events happen in the next one. Review please? You've come this far… 


	4. The Assault

_A/N_: Finally got this posted. This chapter is pg-13 by the way.

**Chapter 4: The Assault**

Nora awoke next morning feeling very comfortable and rested in her king-size bed. She got out of bed, grabbed clean clothes and went into the hall into her pj shorts and a large t-shirt to find Hermione standing there yawning in her nightgown.

"H-hi, d'you-ou sleep w-w-well?" Nora asked Hermione, failing to stifle a huge yawn coming up, due to Hermione. (_A/N_: yawning is infectious.)

"Yes! That bed is soooo comfortable!" She replied with large eyes, looking very amazed and pointing at her bed.

"I know," Nora said loudly, grinning, but waking up Terry, who came out of his room in pajama's with his hair very messy and ruffled.

"Next t-time cou-could you keep it d-down?" he said, also yawning.

"Oops, yes. I'm sorry, didn't mean to wake you," Nora told him apologetically.

"Well, Well. What have we here? I didn't know we were going to have a pajama party in the hallway. How come no one told me? I would never pass an opportunity to see you two girls in your night clothes," Malfoy said coming out of his bedroom with his usual smirk plastered on his face.

"Oh, piss off, Malfoy," Hermione said glaring at him, infuriated. Nora stared at her in astonishment: Hermione hardly ever got this mad so quickly and last time she did she had slapped Malfoy right in the face. Malfoy went back into his room after having said his favorite word ('mudblood') but left his door ajar.

"So, are you coming to breakfast with me?" Hermione asked Nora after she was done glaring at Malfoy.

"No, I'm going take a long bath first, I didn't have time for that at your house because of your f-," Nora began to say, but after a shocked and furious look from Hermione she quickly changed what she meant to say, "- failing alarm clock. Yeah, it didn't work so we had to hurry in order to make the train," she explained to Terry.

"Well, I'm going to go downstairs already and I'll see you in the Great Hall, ok? go down to start breakfast, and then wait until you join us," Hermione told her before going to her room to change. Terry went into his room to change too and Nora turned and entered one of the bathrooms.

She walked over to the large pool-like bathtub and turned on the hot water and a few of the foam tabs, she especially loved the tap whose jet bounced off the surface of the water. When the pool was entirely filled she took off her clothes, got into the pool and swam a couple of laps. After swimming she dove to the bottom of the pool and tried to stay there as long as she could before needing to swim to the surface and breathe again. After about thirty seconds, though, she already had to resurface for air, while wiping her long, straight, and currently wet, brown hair out of her face.

"Trying to drown yourself, Glassyd?" Came Malfoy's drawl, as he looked in the mirror and ran a comb through his gelled-up platinum blonde hair.

"What?" Nora asked looking around confused, "MALFOY! What the hell are you doing in here? Can't you see I'm trying to take a bath!" Her mind raced as she tried to figure out how Malfoy had gotten into the bathroom, since she always looked the door behind her, even if she was at home and the only person in the house… but maybe she had forgotten? "And drowning myself isn't a bad idea now that you're here," she added heatedly looking down to make sure she was covered all the way by bath foam.

"I can't see anything, thank Merlin, if that's what you're checking for," he said, combing his hair again to make sure every single one was in it's right place.

"Oh, shut up and leave so I can get dressed," Nora snapped, hating him more than ever.

"What if I'd rather stay here, and annoy you?" '_Oh Merlin's beard, there's that horrible smirk again! Why can't he just leave?_'

"I said 'LEAVE', or do you want me to tell Dumbledore about this." Draco glared at her for a moment and then left the bathroom, once more running the comb through his hair. Nora gave a sigh or relief. She got out of the bath in a hurry, not daring to stay there any longer, changed into clean clothes, quickly did her hair and left the bathroom. When she walked into the hall she could just see Terry descending the stairs and she thought maybe he had occupied the other bathroom so that Malfoy had entered hers to groom himself. But the thought was forced out of her mind when she noticed Malfoy's eyes on her as he leaned against his doorpost.

"Like what you see?" she asked him, eyebrows raised, though she was merely trying to make him close his mouth. It worked. But he didn't go into his room, instead he grabbed her by the arms and pinned her to the wall. She stared into his eyes in shock and thought she saw something of a mad glint in them, though it could've been out of her own fear that she saw it.

"What? Malfoy, let me go!" she shouted, enraged, but as everyone was now in the Great Hall eating breakfast; there was no one to help her.

"No one flirts with a Malfoy and then just walks away," he said dangerously, loosening his grip a little by accident. Nora broke free and backed away from him, hoping to reach her room in time, but he advanced menacingly on her, obviously not letting her get away that easily, and she froze. Within seconds he had her pinned against the wall again and she whimpered in pain as he gripped her wrists tightly.

"Malfoy, leave me alone!" she demanded, though it rather sounded like a plea when she realized that she was powerless, since there was no way she would be able to use her wand; it was still in her bedroom.

"Not unless you…" he began trailing off into a whisper, his lips nearly touching her ear.

"_What?_ I'm not going to sleep with you, you git!" she yelled, feeling helpless and all the while conscious of his body pressed against hers.

"Ah… it'd be your first time, wouldn't it? But it's the only way to free yourself, Glassyd," he said, smirking.

"No," Nora said determinedly. But feeling the grip tightening painfully on her wrists, she hesitated before saying: "Think of something else." Malfoy didn't need long to think.

"Well then, fool around with me. That cow pansy looks too much like a… well, cow and doesn't fulfill my needs. She even makes a mudblood like you look… decent," he said after a moment of thought, sneering at her. Nora waited as long as she could before answering, trying to think of a way to free herself and hoping Hermione and Terry would come back to see what was taking her so long, and then kill Malfoy, but no one came. Then she tried to send telepathic thoughts to Hermione, but she knew that would never work and she felt quite stupid. Why hadn't she paid attention during divination, maybe Trelawny had said something useful about telepathy! '_Please, you know you're not telepathic,_' a little annoying voice in her head said. '_Well, I can try can't I_?' '_Why would you, you know you like the feel of his body against yours._' '_What? I do not!_' '_Do too,_' '_Do not!_' '_Well, maybe you don't know it, but I do_.' '_Know what?_' '_You love him._' Nora didn't even bother to argue back, it was too frustrating, not to mention pathetic, and she knew that the little voice was wrong. After a long while of trying to think of a way to free herself, in vain, she agreed. '_I wonder why?_' '_Shut up.'_

"Good," was all Malfoy said before putting his lips on her neck and running one of his hands to her breasts. Nora felt incredibly stupid and furious, but somehow also near tears. And yet, when she was becoming tired of holding her guard up the whole time, other feelings passed through her… as if she almost _liked_ the feel of his hands. Her mind argued back and forth all the while as Malfoy's hand slowly slid his hand down from her breasts and onto her stomach. A surge of relief passed through Nora, feeling near tears once more, but then, when his hand slid even lower, she shut her eyes in dread. She couldn't believe that after having waited for a decent guy for so long, Malfoy had gotten there first. All the while Nora's thoughts raced through her mind in frustration and they were all so confusing that she didn't know what to think. At some points she could've just killed Malfoy, but then seconds after she felt a tingling sensation in her stomach that definitely should not have been there and all the while she feared if maybe secretly she did like him, as the annoying voice had said. But then seconds later she felt like brutally murdering Malfoy again and she insisted on still hating his guts as all the years before.

There finally came a point where Nora found a chance to break free and she darted into her room, leaving Malfoy standing in the hall looking very smug with himself. Then he went into his room hearing Nora mutter things like "bloody prick" and "can't believe I let Malfoy," (great look of disgust as she said Malfoy) "feel me up," while she searched for her Hogwarts robes. After she found them Nora quickly hurried down the spiral steps and ran out of the common room to the Great Hall as fast as she could, feeling she'd need to take at least a hundred showers to get that Malfoy fragrance off her along with the feel of his hands. When she arrived she sat down next to Hermione and across from Harry and Ron, feeling exhausted and disgusted with herself and once more near tears.

"You could've hurried up a bit, we've been waiting for ages!" Hermione said impatiently.

"Yeah, we never thought it would take you thirty minutes to apply all your make-up, when Hermione can do it in twenty-five," Ron said sarcastically. Harry snorted but quickly stopped after the look on both Nora and Hermione's face.

"Sorry, I… I couldn't find my socks," Nora lied, trying hard not to burst into tears, before picking up some toast and smearing jelly on it. When she dared to look up, she saw Malfoy enter the Great Hall. He had his usual smirk on his lips and Nora only replied it with the glare she specially reserved for him. When Malfoy sat down Nora turned to the conversation Harry and Hermione were having about muggle music, Ron couldn't join in, of course, because he knew nothing about Muggle music or anything else in the Muggle world. Not much later Nora sighed heavily, not having eaten one bite, and said: "I need to be alone right now," before hurrying out of the Great Hall.

When she reached the Entrance Hall she looked around to see which way to go before deciding to go outside to the lake; she'd always loved being outside with nature surrounding her. Nora was a few steps away from the door when she felt a hand slithering around her waist. She picked it up with two fingers, as if it was a smelly, old sock, and asked sarcastically: "I wonder whom this belongs to." She turned around and stared into the icy gray eyes of Malfoy who put his arms around her waist once more, all the while smirking. Nora gave him her most hateful glare and said:

"Get your filthy hands off of me, you rotten piece of scum."

"Nah, they've found very comfy position, I think I'll keep them this way," he replied, an eyebrow raised, trying to provoke her.

"Fine, but you'll regret it very soon," she replied with a nasty glint in her eyes, then she kneed him where it hurts most and he doubled over, gasping. She ran out of the front doors, ignoring Snape's furious shouts and futile attempt to take away housepoints.

**

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"How come I have the feeling that that wasn't about muggle music?" Harry said slowly as the three of them watched Nora storm off into the entrance hall. Hermione sighed.

"Because it wasn't."

"Well, then what was it about?" Ron asked her. Hermione sighed again.

"It's obviously about Malfoy. Didn't you see the way they looked at each other when Malfoy entered?" she said. The two boys looked confused. "Those looks weren't the usual glares. Malfoy's glare had more smugness in it, and Nora's glare was filled with a lot more hatred than usual. And, speaking of Malfoy, where is the bloody git?" Hermione asked looking over at the Slytherin table.

"Maybe he went back to the Slytherin common room?" Harry suggested.

"I doubt it, he only entered a couple of minutes ago, and he can't have eaten breakfast that fast," Hermione said.

"Maybe he wasn't hungry," Ron offered. Hermione shook her head apprehensively, wondering what could've happened.

"I doubt that too," she said. "I'm going to find Nora." And she got up from the Gryffindor table.

"Why?" Harry and Ron both asked, Hermione heaved one last sigh and then headed for the Entrance Hall without answering.

"What's up with her?" Harry asked Ron as he grabbed a flagon of pumpkin juice.

"I dunno, maybe it's that time of the month again?" Ron replied, revolted at the thought, while watching Hermione leave.

Hermione found herself in the Entrance Hall and decided to go look outside, as that was where Nora usually went when she wanted to do some thinking or just needed to be by herself. Hermione found her sitting under a tree watching the giant squid. It was a lovely day to be sitting outside, with occasional cool breezes to ease the sun's warmth.

"Hi," she said sitting down next to Nora.

"Hi," said Nora glumly. Hermione surveyed her for a few moments and hesitated.

"So… what happened?"

"It's not really that big a deal..." Nora really didn't want anyone to know about this and she felt too embarrassed to even tell Hermione.

"Come on, you can trust me… is it that bad?" Nora nodded, looking over the lake. "You'll feel better when you've told me," Hermione told her.

"That's true..." And she launched into the whole story; relieved she could tell someone about it and get it off of her back.

"What? I can't it! The bloody git!" Hermione shouted aghast.

"It was my fault, though," said Nora quietly, feeling somehow filthy after the incident with Malfoy. "Thank you for making me tell you, though, I feel somewhat better," Nora said truthfully. The two of them hugged as another breeze swept by.

"Hey, what are friends for, you'd make me tell my problems too." Hermione replied smiling. Nora returned it. After a while of comfortable silence she asked with an evil glint in her eyes:

"So… what about you and Terry?"

"What about me and Terry?" Hermione asked shocked, trying to hide the blush that crept onto her face.

"Oh please, it is too obvious."

"Well he's very nice…"

"And…?" Nora asked interrupting Hermione

"And… well, we're going out," Hermione replied, a broad smile creeping unwillingly onto her face. "Can we go inside now? Harry and Ron are waiting for us; they wanted to hang out a bit before school would start tomorrow." Nora laughed at Hermione's not-so-subtle attempt to change the conversation.

"Yes, all right." But she didn't know how she could ever face them after the incident with Malfoy. Yet they both headed inside to meet Harry and Ron, planning on telling them about their conversation some other day.

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_**A/N**_: Review, please?


	5. Harry and Ron Find Out

_A/N_: Next chapter, knock yourself out:

**Chapter 5: Harry and Ron Find Out**

Sunday passed fairly quickly. The four had sat outside most of the day, just talking and catching up, and reluctantly they had gone to bed, not wanting school to begin the next day.

On Monday morning Hermione and Nora both made their way out of their new common room to the Great Hall to have breakfast with Harry and Ron. The girls sat down next to them and filled their plates with everything they could reach. Harry and Ron looked in aw.

"So, I take it you two will start fasting soon?" Harry said sarcastically.

"What's fasting?" Ron asked bewildered.

"It's where you don't eat for a long time for religious reasons," Hermione cut in, "and no, we're just really hungry." Harry and Ron kept watching them eat until Hermione asked, "Which class do we have first?"

"Ehm..." Harry said, looking at his schedule for the first time since they got them, which was yesterday. "Let's see, we have Defense Against the Dark Arts first, then double Potions with the Slytherin's then lunch after that we have Herbology with the Hufflepuffs and… oh," he said looking rather relieved, "Charms."

"Well, that's at least two good classes," Ron said cheerfully.

"A much better Monday than last year," agreed Nora.

"At least no more Divination, eh?" Harry said.

"Well, you should've just walked out of there when I did," Hermione told them. "Arithmancy is a lot better than sitting there and dozing off while that woman goes on and on about Mercury and Mars."

"But it's also a lot harder, and I can't take muggle studies because I live like a Muggle and Ancient Ruins sounds as boring as Divination," Nora replied to an offended looking Hermione.

"Ancient Ruins is not as boring as Divination!" she turned and started a conversation with the person next to her, trying to offend Nora, but her neighbor turned out to be Neville and she was stuck listening to his stories of things he either dropped or forgot to add to potions.

"Bossy know-it-all," Nora muttered under her breath. Harry and Ron both gasped, appalled. Hermione never let _anyone_ call her a bossy know-it-all.

"Not good," Ron muttered to Harry.

"Cat fight," Harry muttered back. Hermione gasped, looking in disbelief at her friend.

"I am not a bossy know-it-all! You… you crazy… bitch!" Hermione said shrilly, though with a playful glint in her eye. Nora chuckled; it sounded so ridiculous when Hermione tried to cuss.

"That's 'witch', dear, not 'bitch', 'witch'" Nora replied with a smile on her face. Harry and Ron were both shocked, confused by what just happened; if they ever dared to say something like that to the girls, they would've received serious injuries.

"Oh stop it, you two look very stupid with that expression on your face. We're best friends we know these fights aren't serious. If it were serious one of us would've stormed out of the Great Hall and the other would know not to follow until they were both cooled off," Hermione explained to Harry and Ron.

"But Saturday morning Nora stormed out of the Great Hall and you went after her," Ron said pointing at Nora as if he had done something wrong and were trying to put the blame on her. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Ok, first of all, I _did_ let her cool off a bit and second of all, she wasn't mad at me but at Malfoy," Hermione said looking over at the Slytherin table.

"Why were you mad at that bloody git?" Ron asked Nora, glancing over at the Slytherins as well.

"Let's not talk about that, ok?" she replied quickly, looking dangerously at Hermione for getting her into this mess. She didn't want Harry and Ron to know about the incident with Malfoy, and she really didn't want them to know that she had liked it, though she hadn't even told Hermione that.

"No, no, no, tell us, we tell you stuff. Like when we both got blown off in our fourth year, when we asked Cho and Fleur to the Ball," Harry said, looking two years back at that very embarrassing moment and grimacing.

"Yes, but this is more serious… I really don't wanna tell y…" Nora began to say, but by the sad look on Hermione's face, the boys were going to know, no matter what she said.

"Yesterday she was… she was assaulted by Malfoy," Hermione explained cutting in on Nora's sentence. Nora hid her face in her hands in shame.

"WHAT?" Harry and Ron both exclaimed in unison, looking at her in rage of Malfoy's actions. "You were _assaulted _by _Malfoy_?" They then whispered.

"Well, yes, but… Hermione's going out with Terry Boot!" she quickly said in an attempt to turn their attention on Hermione. Luckily it worked; they were very protective of the two girls and never approved of whom they went out with, except when Nora was going out with Dean, they hadn't really had a problem with that… until Dean dumped her for some Ravenclaw girl in their year.

"WHAT?" They shouted, again in unison. "You're going out with Terry Boot?" They said looking over at the Ravenclaw table.

"Well, I wanted to tell you guys, but I wanted to do it when the time was right." Hermione said apologetically.

"Every time is a right time to tell us that!" Ron said.

"No it is not! See how you react! We can't tell you anything!" Hermione said and an argument started between the four about the boys' over protectiveness. It wasn't until Ginny came and told them to shut up and let her tell them some news that they stopped arguing, but they continued to shoot glares at each other.

"What?" Ron asked his little sister.

"Well McGonagall told me to tell Harry that he's been made the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain!" she told them, beaming at Harry.

"So, I'm off the lifelong ban then?" he asked her, remembering Umbridge.

"Yeah, Umbridge is gone now, so you can play again," Ginny said, still beaming.

"That's brilliant!" he exclaimed. Then, as Ginny went to sit with her friends, he turned to Nora and looked very seriously. "Malfoy _touched_ you?" he whispered, with a look shock, disgust and fury on his face. Nora, feeling more filthy by the minute, nodded, her eyes slowly filling with tears, though she quickly wiped them away and pretended they hadn't been there. She knew what the boys were thinking however.

"Don't go after him, though," she pleaded and Ron immediately began to object.

"But he _touched_ you!" he whispered angrily. "He… He…" words obviously failed him, but they could tell him was furious about what happened. Hermione however insisted that they don't jinx Malfoy into oblivion and that they should just forget it happened. The boys, however, muttered they weren't likely to forget this within twenty years, but they agreed not to go after the bloody prick. Together the four walked to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, wondering who their new teacher was, as he hadn't been sitting at the Head Table since they had arrived.


	6. Classes Start

**Chapter 6: Classes Start**

The Gryffindor four left the Great Hall and headed up towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom to find it full of screams and flying paper airplanes; the new teacher had obviously not arrived yet. Hermione and Nora sat beside Parvati and Lavender who were talking very quietly and obviously gossiping about their new teacher. They both leaned in to hear what they were saying:

"I heard his nose was the size of a Quaffle," Parvati whispered, making a face at the thought of it.

"Ew," Lavender replied. "I heard he has his hair in a ponytail and wears seven different earrings," she then whispered, almost in aw at such daring. Parvati put her fingers to her lips and the two sat up straight. The whole class had become quiet when Dumbledore walked in.

"Does this mean there's no new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Ron whispered to Harry from behind Hermione. Harry shrugged.

"Every one, I am here to introduce you the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: Professor Spring," Dumbledore told them in his calm voice. He beckoned to the door and a tall, slim, but scared looking wizard walked in. He had large glasses, though not as large as Trelawny's, a balding head and looked as if the smallest sound could make him whimper in fright. He kind of reminded every one of professor Quirrell in their first year.

"H-hello there, every-everyone," he stammered as Dumbledore left. No one said anything, but instead gazed at him intently, wondering if they would actually learn anything this year with such a teacher.

"O-ok, today w-we will go th-through the spells that you already know. S-so team up with someone and practice E-expelliarmus." Everybody did as he said and very soon they were all shouting Expelliarmus. They didn't need to practice very long since every one had gone through most defense spells in Harry's DA lessons. Professor Spring, of course, noticed this so they soon began revising other spells too, such as stunning spells and spells to slow things down. At the end of the period professor Spring had stopped stuttering all together and he beamed at his students.

"Well, you have done a very good job indeed! I'm very proud. If my other students are only half as nice and hard working as you are, I'm satisfied," he told them, with a note of fear in his voice again; he was obviously thinking about the Slytherins.

The Gryffindors left the classroom and headed towards the dungeons for double potions with the Slytherin's. They sat down in their seats and waited for Professor Snape to enter. When he finally did, the whole room went quiet at once, everyone dreading the lesson.

"Today," Snape said, glaring around the room, "we will be practicing Veritaserum, more commonly known as: truth potions. These are incredibly hard to brew, so work carefully and do _not_ mess things up," he added in a dangerous tone while glaring at Neville, who gulped. Snape continued: "Unfortunately professor Dumbledore has informed me that he wants the four houses to work together more often, no doubt for his 'We must unite' project, so I'm forced to pair you all up." Everyone moaned and Neville gave a whimper in fright. "SILENCE! I shall do this by pointing at names on this list," he waved a piece of parchment around that had their names written on it, "while looking the other way, as I do not want to torture my Slytherin's by pairing them up myself." He sighed and then began pricking with a quill at the list, his head turned the other way, looking very silly as he did so:

"Ms. Patil and Ms. Bulstrode." Parvati looked horror-struck, but she grabbed her things, reluctantly, and sat next to Millicent.

"Ms. Granger and Mr. Crabbe." A look of repulsion appeared on Hermione's face, but she sat down next to Crabbe all the same, knowing she was going to be making this potion all by herself, since Crabbe was too stupid to be of any help. "Mr. Goyle and Mr. Weasly. Mr. Zabini and Mr. Longbottom. Ms. Glassyd and Mr. Malfoy. Ms. Parkinson and Mr. Potter." Snape paired all of them up and every one sat next to their partner looking furious or in Neville's case, horrified. "After you have made the potions," he continued, "you and your partner will both be testing it. I will allow you each five questions to ask your partner when they have drunk the potion. If you have made the potion right, which I doubt any of you will, you will find yourself telling the truth, you cannot control this so don't bother trying; it will only wear you out." Every one began working on the concoction and they carefully read the instructions, which were on the board, so that they didn't end up poisoning themselves, though they couldn't care less if their co-worker dropped dead after drinking it.

"All right, I'll go get the ingredients and you just read what we have to do," Nora said getting up. She could feel herself blushing as she made her way to the cabinets that held the potion ingredients they were supposed to use. It felt as if Snape had paired them together on purpose, though he had clearly been looking the other way when jabbing at their names. Returning with her hands full, she tried to sound casual while asking: "What do we do first?"

"First we have to grind the powdered bicorn horn and heat the cauldron, of course," Malfoy drawled, reading off the instruction board. Nora grabbed the bicorn horn and started pulverizing it, pretending it was the person she was working with. After she was done, which took a while since the horn was very tough and pretending it was Malfoy was very satisfying, she gave it to Malfoy who put it in their cauldron and he stirred five times clockwise and three times counter-clockwise.

"Next?" asked Nora.

"Next we need to cut the Unicorn hair in small equal pieces." This was one of the hardest things to do as the unicorn hair was very thin and could hardly be seen. Nora worked very carefully and tried not to notice Malfoy watching her, but the harder she tried the more concentration she lost. Finally, she gave the cut up unicorn hair to him and he lowered the temperature of the fire before throwing them in.

They worked together perfectly and said nothing to each other, unless it had something to do with the potion. It was their silent agreement.

Hermione, on the other hand, wasn't doing as well. As suspected, Crabbe did absolutely nothing, except joke around with Goyle, who was working with Ron at the desk before them. So Hermione was left doing everything herself, though that was perhaps better, because now she had all the control and he wasn't there to mess everything up. But Ron, who was terrible in potions, wasn't doing that well on his own, though he did try hard and had some whispered help from Hermione. Harry wasn't happy with who he was working with either. All Pansy did was gossip with her Slytherin friends about boys and it was very hard to concentrate when they burst into, what he assumed could only be, giggles every thirty seconds.

* * *

"You will all have finished your potions by now," drawled Snape as he walked along the desks and inspected the cauldrons. "Drink it one at a time and be prepared for your partner to know your darkest secrets. Ask away," he said bored.

"You try first," Malfoy told Nora with a smirk on his face. Nora looked at him in hatred, but drank the potion reluctantly, wondering if he'd poisoned it. A few seconds later she felt herself become calm inside and feel at ease. Malfoy thought hard about the questions he should ask and she watched him anxiously and impatiently, or she would've been, if the concoction hadn't made her feel so comfortable and relaxed.

"All right, what's your favorite color?" Malfoy asked.

"Blue."

"Right. Favorite pet?"

"Dog."

"I see, now is either Potty or Weasel your sweet little boyfriend?" He looked at her with interest.

"No." '_That's what he's asking me? Why on earth would he care if I was going out with Harry or Ron?_' Nora wondered vaguely. '_Just as long as he doesn't mention Saturday morning. Please, do _not_ let him mention Saturday morning!_'

"So… did you like it when I touched you?" Malfoy asked her quietly, looking so very smug with himself. '_Oh my god!_' Nora tried her very best not to answer, but as Snape had said before, she soon felt herself becoming worn out by the strength it took. Of course, she didn't want Malfoy, her enemy, to know that deep dark secret, but she was forced to tell the truth.

"No… and Yes." '_Well_,' she sighed inwardly. '_It's half of what I wanted. The bloody git._' Malfoy looked absolutely ecstatic. Then he leaned forward and whispered:

"Do you like me?"

"No." Nora came out of her calm trance and looked at him in fury. How she wished she could pummel him right then and there! '_Urgh. Thank Merlin it's over. And I hope he doesn't mention Saturday ever, ever again! I hate Snape; it's all an evil conspiracy. Though notice that I said 'no' so I don't like him, at least one good thing_,' she thought, feeling relieved. But there was that little annoying voice again that never left her alone: '_Oh no, you _do _like him, only you don't know it yet, so it's not a lie to say "no".' _Her own thoughts were completely confusing her, so she ignored them.

"So, you liked it, huh?" Malfoy said with a smirk. Nora closed her eyes and heaved a deep sigh, trying to calm herself down so she wouldn't feel like attacking him so much.

"Oh, shut up and drink the bloody potion," she said when she'd opened her eyes again. He shrugged and obeyed, gulping the liquid down in one go. A serene look passed over his face, replacing the smirk. Nora sighed again.

"Ok. What's your favorite color?" she asked bored.

"Yellow."

"Oh, very manly," she told him. "Your favorite animal?"

"Wolf." Nora thought that over, being fascinated by wolves herself, and then a thought, a stupid thought, entered her head: '_Ask him! Ask him! Ask him why he did it!_'

"Ok, so, why'd you do… what you did on Saturday?" she asked seriously, very aware that the entire classroom was filled with students who would be able to hear, if, luckily, they weren't so busy with the asking-and-telling themselves.

"I like you."

"What?" she blurted horrified, backing away.

"I like you."

"Oh Merlin's Beard, why?" she thought out loud, not realizing that that counted as a question. This was the evil Slytherin who had tortured her and her friends since their first year! How could this be? How could he like her: the 'stupid mudblood'? She couldn't believe it and looked at him as if he'd sprouted two other heads.

"Because you're very beautiful," he answered. Nora was now staring ahead of her, her head in both hands. When Malfoy came out of his trance he nearly fell out of his chair in shock; he hadn't thought she would've asked questions about it too! And now she knew! Oh this was terrible. Just awful… would people notice if he jabbed himself in the heart with his wand?

The bell rang and everyone quickly got up, not wanting to be in the potions classroom any longer than necessary. Nora was the first one out of the dungeon's and in the Entrance Hall where she waited, panting hard, for Hermione.

"Why'd you run out of there?" Hermione asked catching up with Nora as the Entrance Hall quickly filled with students who were heading for lunch.

"I'll tell you at the table," Nora replied, dragging Hermione into the Great Hall. When they were both seated at the table she told her everything. "But please don't tell Harry and Ron right now, because I don't think they'll be able to take it," Nora finished, watching the boys walk towards them. Hermione nodded, looking shocked and bewildered. After lunch they went to Herbology and Charms, during which they revised the previous year. By the end of the day every one collapsed in their seats at their house tables starved and tired.

"I can't believe we got homework on the very first day," Ron complained loudly.

"Oh, come on, we always get homework on the very first day," Hermione replied.

"Yeah, well, they could've changed it, now I get to spend everyday in the library looking up ingredients for potions and how to take good care of those ugly plants," he said, piling his plate full while sulking. Hermione just shrugged; she didn't mind homework that much.

After dinner they went to their common rooms to try and get a head start on their homework, but Harry and Ron didn't feel like it and Nora had too many thoughts racing through her mind. So, as usual, only Hermione was getting anything done out of free will.

* * *

_A/N_: That's it for today. Hope you liked it. 


	7. Hermione's Mum

_A/N_: Hi, here's the next chapter. I would also like to thank the people who reviewed my story! Thank You:

**Lee**

**Shadowrogue**

**Borngryffindor**

**Komoto-dragon**

**Crawptrapman**

**Mugglebornwitch**

**Thespy**

**Qtsweet2003**

**Chapter 7: Hermione's Mum**

Hermione and Nora were both waiting in the library for Harry and Ron, having promised the guys to help them with their amount of homework as well as finishing some of their own.

"Hi," Ron said glumly, looking very annoyed about something.

"What took you so long? We've been waiting for about fifteen minutes," Hermione said exasperated, folding her arms as Harry and Ron took seats across from them.

"Yeah, well we met Snape on the way," explained Harry, since Ron was too busy cursing Snape and his mother under his breath. "He asked us where we were sneaking off to and we said 'To the library, sir.' He didn't believe us and took ten house points!"

"What?" Hermione and Nora both exclaimed in unison, infuriated by their stupid potions master.

"That's exactly what we said, and then Snape took off another ten house points and gave us both detention!" Harry said indignantly, receiving a glare from Madame Pince for being too loud. Ron was still busy cursing Snape and this time his father.

"That stupid git," was all Nora could utter. When they had all calmed down somewhat, they started their homework, working hard and mostly in silence. They didn't leave the library until it was darkening and time to eat, glad that their Potions and Herbology homework was finished. At dinner Hermione and Nora both agreed to check Harry and Ron's potions essay, to see if it was all right.

"Ron, I think you got some of the ingredients for the truth potion mixed up. I don't remember any Dragon Heartstring or Unicorn horn." Nora said, frowning. "Are you sure you looked everything up correctly?" Ron blushed.

"Well, yeah, but after a while I got tired of looking things up and I thought you'd correct them?" he asked innocently, not looking directly at her. Nora sighed and took out quill to correct his mistakes, saying:

"But this is the last time. Next time you're rewriting it."

"Harry, yours is all right. I don't think Snape can give you lower than Acceptable for this," Hermione said, handing the essay back to Harry, who took it, relieved.

After dinner the four left to go to bed. They were so exhausted they barely made it up the stairs, let alone to their common rooms. The girls both said "Goodnight," to Harry and Ron at the hallway that led to the portrait of the Fat Lady and then left to go to their own rooms, talking little.

They finally reached the portrait of a man trying to catch a pig, said the password ('Here Piggy') and entered their common room. Malfoy and Terry were sitting in front of the fireplace talking. Nora walked to the circled stairways carefully avoiding Malfoy. Hermione went over to Terry first, pecked him on the cheek, blushing, and then followed Nora. The two brushed their teeth and then went to bed completely worn out, falling asleep almost immediately.

* * *

The next day when Hermione and Nora entered the Great Hall they found Harry and Ron already waiting for them. The two girls ate and then left to go outside and have Herbology with the Hufflepuffs again. Professor Sprout made them take their Goreenwahs to the table they were working at so that they could start to take care of it. Goreenwahs were very ugly, murky brown plants that mostly ate flies and tree lice.

"Now, if your Goreenwah is still alive, the next step would be to try and rid it of its very sharp and poisonous spikes. If there are too many of them your Goreenwah will jab itself, trying to get rid of them on it's own, and die," Professor Sprout explained, almost sadly, to the class.

"And we wouldn't want that, now would we?" Ron muttered to Harry, who sniggered.

"If your Goreenwah is already dead then come to me and you'll receive a new one," Professor Sprout added, not hearing Ron. They spent the rest of the class clipping their Goreenwahs with looks of fright on there faces the entire lesson, for Goreenwahs also had mouths and would snap at your hands if you weren't careful or if you were clipping the spikes wrong.

After Herbology the Gryffindors crossed the lawn to go to Care of Magical Creatures while the Hufflepuffs went back into the castle. A slight wind picked up making them all shiver; the sun had gone behind some clouds. When Hagrid's cabin came into sight, Harry looked around to see where his friend was.

"Can you guys see Hagrid anywhere?" he asked the other three.

"No, where do think you he is?" Ron asked looking around too. Just then Hagrid came out of the Forbidden Forest holding a large crate. He smiled as the Gryffindors gathered around him.

"'Ello, there. Yeh had a nice vacation?" Hagrid asked Harry, Hermione, Nora and Ron.

"Yeah, what's in the crate?" Harry asked him, nervously.

"Yeh'll see, Yeh'll see," Hagrid replied. When everyone had gathered around he carefully opened the large crate.

"What are we supposed to be seeing here?" Seamus asked him.

"In 'ere, I have two Demiguises. Now can anyone tell me 'bout the Demiguise?" Hagrid asked, looking around the group hopefully. As usual Hermione's hand shot up. "Yes, Hermione?"

"The Demiguise is found in the Far East, though with difficulty, because the beast can make itself invisible when threatened. The Demiguise is a peaceful and herbivorous animal," she said in aw, for no one had ever thought Hagrid would be able to bring something this interesting to class, without putting them in danger of being attacked.

"Very good, 'Mione. Ten points to Gryffindor. Now Demiguise pelts are very valuable as they can be made into a special cloak. Does any one know what kind of cloak?" Hagrid asked the group. This time it wasn't Hermione's hand in the air. "Yes?"

"Invisibility Cloaks," Harry said; he should know, after all he owned the invisibility cloak that had once belonged to his father.

"Good job, Harry!" Hagrid said happily, "'Nother ten points to Gryffindor!"

"Well, at least that takes care of the points Snape took from us, but I still can't see the Demiegase thing beasts," Ron muttered to Harry. Hagrid, hearing Ron, continued.

"I know yeh can' see 'em but if we 'ave their favorite food and talk nicely we might be able ter coax 'em out of their hiding," he told them, giving each student a different kind of fruit. After a while of coaxing the two Demiguises took their visible forms and the girls gasped. In front of them were two graceful apes with large, black, doleful eyes, which were often hidden by their long, fine, silky hair. They were allowed to pet them and at the end of the lesson every student was talking rapidly with their neighbour about the class as they walked towards the castle for lunch.

"They are so beautiful!" Parvati squealed to Lavender, who nodded. After lunch the Gryffindors left the Great Hall to have transfiguration with the Ravenclaw's. Professor McGonagall showed them how to turn a teacup into a gerbil and then left them to practice. After half an hour of practicing Ron still wasn't making any progress at all.

"Ron, you're doing it all wrong. You're supposed to say 'Carpédium' first and _then_ flick your wand. Not the other way around," Hermione pointed out.

"Well, excuse me if I'm not perfect, but if you know how to do it so well, then why don't you show us?" he shot back, annoyed that she was being such a know-it-all again.

"Fine, I will. Carpédium." She flicked her wand and her teacup turned into a black gerbil with white paws and a brown snout. It walked around and Professor McGonagall awarded Gryffindor ten house points. After Transfiguration they went to charms where Professor Flitwick stood on his pile of books, waiting for the class to settle down.

Half way through class, however, Professor McGonagall came in looking worried. She whispered something to Professor Flitwick, who nodded, and then went to stand in the doorway.

"Ms. Granger, if you would be so kind as to go with Professor McGonagall?" Flitwick said. Hermione left her seat next to Nora, who looked at Professor McGonagall questioningly, trying to figure out what was wrong.

"Ms. Glassyd, you too, please," McGonagall added. Nora stood up and followed her out of the classroom with Hermione. They were led up a couple of staircases and through some corridors when they stopped in front of the familiar stone gargoyle.

"Skiving Snackboxes," McGonagall said and she led them onto the spiral staircase. When they reached the top, she knocked on Dumbledore's door and then walked in, pointing out two chairs for the girls to sit in. Then McGonagall closed the door and waited for Dumbledore to speak. He looked tired.

"I'm afraid I have unfortunate news, Ms. Granger," he began slowly. Hermione looked at Nora, then back at Dumbledore. Had her grades dropped to an alarmingly low point? But school had only just begun and why would Nora be here with her? Hermione thought about all the possible things that could have gone wrong. Her heart was beating so fast that it didn't feel right anymore.

"It has nothing to do with school," Dumbledore continued, "It is about your… It is about your mother." Hermione gasped, clutching the arms of the chair, her knuckles turning white, and feared the worst. "I am afraid she has moved on."

"What?" Hermione said numbly, as Nora put an arm around her shoulders, trying to comfort her.

"She passed away."

"But… but the doctors said she would most likely wake up out of her coma," Hermione whispered, frowning in sadness.

"And she did," Dumbledore replied looking very grief.

"But…" Hermione became more agitated and confused. What on earth was he saying?

"The doctors called your father, telling him she had woken up, but because he was afraid she would give the police evidence that he had beaten her, your father snuck into the hospital at night and… suffocated her in her sleep, with a pillow," he finished looking away. "He is currently in a muggle prison." A teardrop rolled down Hermione's cheeks. Soon a whole river followed.

"But where will she stay? Now that she has no mother or father she won't have a place to go to," Nora pointed out to Dumbledore, still trying to comfort Hermione and feeling terrible.

"That is where your parents come in," he answered.

"My…what?" It was not until then that she saw two figures standing in the corner. They stepped forward so that Nora could clearly see them.

"That is the reason I called you here. I thought it would be too much trouble if Hermione stayed with one of her relatives, as they are all Muggles. It would probably be too much for them to handle, so I have decided that, with Hermione's consent, she would stay with you. As I understand it you have two other children?" he asked Mrs. Glassyd.

"Yes, but one has moved out already, and these two are old enough to take care of themselves. It won't be any trouble at all," she answered, smiling at the two girls. Nora's brother had left Hogwarts three years ago, along with Dean's older sister, and they had ended up getting married.

"Ms. Granger?" Dumbledore said, turning back to Hermione, "What do you say. Would you want to live with the Glassyd's?" Hermione sniffed and then nodded before continuing to cry into her hands.

* * *

Later that day, when Hermione had gotten over the shock somewhat, they all left Dumbledore's office, and the two girls walked slowly and silently towards the Great Hall for dinner where they met Harry and Ron, who had already been informed about what happened. They tried hard to comfort her but didn't quite know how: how do you try to make someone feel better when they'd just lost a parent? But Harry knew how Hermione felt and even her closest friends couldn't do more than give her a comforting hug and hope she felt better soon.

* * *

_A/N_: The chapters will get longer, patience, patience. 


	8. Quidditch Tryouts and Truth or Dare

**Chapter 8: Quidditch Tryouts and Truth or Dare**

Wednesday and Thursday were both very uneventful, as was Friday. The Gryffindor four were heading towards History of Magic, their last class on the last day before the weekend. They all sat down and Professor Binns floated through the blackboard as usual. Nobody even noticed any more, though it had come as quiet a shock in their first year. Binns began talking and Hermione quickly took out a quill and some parchment. She had recovered quickly after hearing about her mother's death and showed to everyone that she was made of much sturdier material than they had all thought.

"Herbarius the Horrible led one of the first goblin rebellions in 1476, causing a big massacre to occur. It was years after that, in 1492 that more wars were fought. This was an important…" Binns droned. Nora looked out the window onto the grounds, barely keeping her eyes open.

"I _so_ don't care. I wish Dumbledore would hire a new teacher," she muttered to Hermione who was scribbling furiously, trying to keep up with everything Professor Binns said. After fifteen minutes Ron leaned his head on his hand, with his elbow on the desk, and fell asleep, not snoring for the first time. Harry looked at Parvati's hair, noticing how nice it fell down to her waist. Suddenly Ron's elbow slipped and his head crashed onto his desk causing him to yelp. Every one turned around and starting laughing, making his ears turn a dark red. When Professor Binns had calmed everyone down, he went back to his teaching and every one started daydreaming again, except for Hermione of course.

After class they went downstairs to the Great Hall to eat dinner. They were halfway through when Ginny joined them.

"Hey guys! How was class?" She asked them happily.

"Did you know something really boring happened to someone really ugly like five hundred years ago?" Ron told her sourly rubbing his forehead where a bump had appeared. Ginny looked at the others puzzled and Harry told her about what had happened during History of Magic.

When Nora and Hermione reached their common room they both sat in the two armchairs in front of the fire. Suddenly, but not unexpectedly, Hermione burst out in tears. Nora, of course, knew what was wrong, feeling sorrowful herself. She had actually thought it weird that her friend hadn't broken down sooner and was still getting her homework done well before it was due. She felt that Hermione was dealing with it all better than she would've done, but then Hermione was a lot stronger than she was.

"I-I m-m-miss my mohohom!" Hermione sobbed. There wasn't much Nora could do except put a comforting arm around her shoulders. Hermione pulled her into a very tight hug and Nora was pretty sure she heard a couple of her bones crack. The two of them sat there, hugging each other, until Hermione had calmed down and went upstairs to sleep. Nora stayed downstairs and sat staring at the fire and thinking, hardly moving, as silent tears rolled down her cheeks. Until Malfoy walked in that is, then she hurried up the stairs and went to bed too, not wanting to talk to him.

That Saturday was the Quidditch tryout for the Gryffindors. Ron had gotten very good as keeper, having practiced over the summer with Fred and George and in august with Harry. Now that Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell were gone too there were only two players left on the team: Harry and Ron. Ginny was there too but she didn't want to be a seeker and was going to try out for chaser, as was Nora. Hermione wasn't planning on trying out at all. She had never flown a broom before and wasn't planning to either. On Saturday morning Harry, Nora and Ron walked over to the Quidditch pitch waiting for the others who were going to try out. When all of the Gryffindor's had tried out, Harry, now captain, picked the best ones.

"Now, when I call your name you will step out of the line and join the team," he said, "Ginny Weasly: Chaser. Nora Glassyd: Chaser. Mathew Charles: Chaser. Seamus Finnigan: Beater. Jessica Jensen: Beater," Harry called out. "Now, the rest of the time we'll be practicing to work together. The three chasers will try to get the quaflle past the keeper by working together. The two beaters will be trying to keep the bludgers away from me while I fly around the pitch, got it?" The team murmured "Yes" and Ron led the the chasers to one end of the pitch with Nora, while Harry flew up into the air with the two beaters.

Practice didn't go too well. Seamus and Jessica (a 5th year) couldn't keep away all of the bludgers with the result that Harry got hit by the ones they accidentally let through. Nora, Ginny and Mathew (a 7th year) didn't work together at all, and even though they got a few Quaflles through the hoops, they didn't hear and couldn't sense when the other was going to pass to them, with the result that they had to fly down and pick it up from the ground, which took up time. At the end of the day they went over to the castle to have a late lunch.

"How'd it go?" Hermione asked them, getting glares from everyone on the team. After lunch the four went to the library to do their homework for next week. That night Harry put up a notice for the Gryffindor team that they would be practicing every other evening starting Monday.

* * *

Two weeks later the team came into the Great Hall very wet and covered from head to toe in mud. The weather had been disastrous but practice had been one of the better ones yet. They were finally showing some improvement now, but the first few practices had been terrible: Jessica had made to hit a bludger away from Harry, Seamus right at her side, but as she swung her bat she hit Seamus hard in the stomach and as she turned her head, shocked, the bludger escaped and hit Harry in the back. Jessica had brought them both to the Hospital Wing right away. Another time Mathew horribly passed a Quaffle to Ginny and she quickly flew after it, making a spectacular dive while trying to catch it, but falling from her broom in the process. Luckily for her Harry wasn't doing anything, only pretending to find the snitch, so he quickly cast Wingardium Leviosa, causing her to fall slower. Nora brought Ginny to the Hospital Wing after, since the fall had been hard, even at a slow pace. A lot more accidents had happened after those, but they were working more as a team now.

"Well, it's the first time I'm proud of my team," Harry told Hermione, "There were a few minor mistakes but the very big errors have been left out!" A smile grew on his face, and then he turned around and went towards the Gryffindor common room to take a shower and change into clean clothes.

* * *

In the middle of October Dumbledore stood up before dinner saying he had an announcement to make.

"As you all know… Halloween will be here soon… and I have decided to brighten things up here at Hogwarts with a Halloween Ball," he began. Most of the students cheered and whistled, making Dumbledore smile his warm and comforting smile. Harry and Ron on the other hand looked at Nora and Hermione disgruntled, remembering the fiasco when they were trying to ask someone to the Yule Ball in their 4th year. "I therefore advise all of you to find a date and a costume. Let us feast!" Dumbledore finished smiling.

"I'm never going to get a date!" Nora grumbled, folding her arms.

"Me neither," Harry and Ron said glumly in unison. Hermione on the other hand looked quiet happy.

"Oh, stop gloating. We know you've got Terry to go with. At least you won't be going through all the anxiety of hoping to get asked by someone cute and nice, and not by the biggest loser of the school," Nora told her, looking over at Malfoy while she said the last sentence and throwing him a dirty look. Hermione said nothing and began to eat her dinner, smiling to herself.

* * *

The week after Dumbledore's announcement and a week before the Halloween Ball Nora and Malfoy were sitting in their common room both reading in silence when there was a loud knock. Nora, who had eventually stopped avoiding Malfoy, got up and stepped out of the portrait to find Ginny standing there.

"Hi Ginny, what are you doing here?" she asked, looking down the hallway. "Is something wrong?" Ginny shook her head.

"No, I'm fine. Listen, I asked Professor McGonagall if we could play magic Truth or Dare in one of the larger empty classrooms. She said it was fine, but that the Head's should be there too, depending on the size of the group, to take control if anything got out of hand. I showed her the group and she said it'd be better if all four were there. So… can you ask if the others will come?" Ginny finished looking at Nora in the sweetest way she could. Nora laughed and said:

"Sure, I'll check," before entering the common room again, worrying that Malfoy wouldn't agree. She walked over to him, he was still reading, and knelt down beside the couch.

"What do you want, Glassyd," he said, not looking up from his book. Nora tried not to cringe, but she just couldn't bear the way he said her last name, with a long, snake-like 's' that could actually make her shudder at times.

"Well, I just talked to Ginny and she wants to play magic Truth or Dare with a large group of students and Professor McGonagall said that all four Head's have to be there in case things got out of hand. So could you please join us in the game?" Nora asked him. Malfoy pretended to think it over for a minute or so before saying: "No," still not looking up from his book.

"Malfoy."

"What?"

"Malfoy, look at me." He did as Nora asked him and nearly melted in her dark brown eyes with the little dark specks in them. "Could you please, please, pleeeaaase come? It would really mean a lot to Ginny," she said, looking and pointing into the direction of the portrait where Ginny was still waiting. Then she looked back at Malfoy, who hadn't taken his eyes off of her. He gazed into those brown eyes full of love and concern for her friends, and was hoping the impossible of him being her friend some day, before sighing and saying: "Yeah, all right, then. Fine."

"Oh, thank you so much," Nora told him and in her relief she gave Malfoy a quick hug, before running up the stairs to find Terry and Hermione, feeling unbelievably stupid and blushing a deep, deep red, wishing someone would just shoot her. Terry and Hermione both agreed at once and they followed Nora down the stairs into the common room where Malfoy was standing in front of the notice board. Nora walked over to him to see what he was looking at.

"What?" she cried in horror, making Malfoy rub is ear. Hermione and Terry walked over to see what was wrong. Hermione read out loud:

_Dear Heads,_

_As I have told you, a Halloween Ball will be held. What I have not yet said was that I expect the Head Boys to pick one of the Head Girls and take them to the Halloween Ball, in costume. This will be necessary in order to set an example for the younger students._

_Sincerely, _

_Professor Dumbledore._

The four left the Common Room, all feeling a bit unnerved, and Ginny led them towards the room where they would play the game. During the walk Hermione looked at Nora pleadingly.

"You don't have to look at me like that… of course I'm going to let you go with Terry. You two were going to go together anyway," Nora said, trying to smile at her friend, but feeling terrible on the inside.

"Thank you," Hermione told her, patting her friend's arm consolingly. They entered the room and found a very big group sitting in a circle, including Harry and Ron, who grinned as their two friends entered. Hermione noticed there were fifth and sixth years from every house except Slytherin. The four Head's sat down somewhere in the circle, leaving Ginny the only one standing. She cleared her throat and said:

"Right. So, before we begin to play magic Truth or Dare I would like to say that I have decided to play this game with all of you just for a little bit of fun and also to make it easier to see who likes who. And if there is a match they will go together to the dance. This way, you won't be rejected the whole time. There are also a few rules. First of all when you choose the option "truth" and decide you really don't want to answer the question you can remain silent, but… you will have to take of one item of clothing. Second of all when you choose the option "dare" and decide you really don't want to do the dare given, you can remain seated, but… again you will have to take of a piece of clothing. Third of all, because this is "magic" truth or dare, there is a spell on it, which will prevent you from lying when asked a question. And fourth of all: almost anything goes!" she said happily, but mischievously, and then sat down. It was decided that she would be the one to begin.

"Hermione… Truth or Dare?" she asked simply.

"Truth."

"Who do you like?"

"Terry."

"Ok, now this is an example. When you ask some one who they like, they of course will say someone's name. After you have answered, it is your turn to pick someone. What I want you to do, though, is to ask the person you named, who _they_ like. Get my point?" Ginny explained and every one nodded.

"All right," Hermione said, "Terry, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

"Who do you like?"

"I like you," he replied, smiling at her. Hermione blushed. "Erm… Seamus, Truth or Dare?"

"Dare."

"Ok… uhm… I dare you… I dare you to go to the girl you like and ask her to the Halloween Ball," Terry said with an evil smile on his face.

"What? That's almost the exact same thing as truth. And what if she blows me off? I'll make a fool of myself in front of all of you," Seamus replied, horrified at the thought.

"Dude, just do it."

"Fine," Seamus said sulkily as he got up and walked over to Georgia Havenport, a Ravenclaw 5th year. She had black hair that reached her waist and blue eyes, like the ocean.

"Willyougotothedancewithme?" He asked her quickly. Georgia giggled but replied, "Yes." Seamus wiped his forehead and sat down in his seat, his face completely red, glaring at Terry.

"Ok… Harry, truth or dare?" Seamus asked him

"Truth," He didn't want to get a dare like Seamus'.

"Who do you like?" Harry muttered something. "What?"

"Parvati, I like Parvati," he said loud enough so every one could hear. Parvati blushed and giggled along with Lavender.

"Parvati? Truth or dare?"

"Truth," she said, still blushing

"Who do _you_ like?"

"You." The game went on and after a while every one had taken off both shoes and at least one sock. A few couples had been made too: Hermione and Terry, Harry and Parvati, Ron and Lavender, Hannah Abbott and Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ginny Weasly and Colin Creevey, who had stopped being so hyper, didn't idolize Harry as much and had actually become rather cute, Dean and Crystal-Rose (the new girl he had dumped Nora for) and Ernie Mcmillan and Susie Fisher. It was Ginny's turn again.

"Nora, Truth or Dare?"

"Dare," Nora replied, feeling that Ginny was bound to ask something incredibly evil if she had answered 'Truth'.

"All right," Ginny started with an evil grin on her face, "I dare you to kiss a boy for an entire minute."

"Which boy?" Nora asked cautiously, knowing she was going to take off a piece of clothing and skip this dare.

"Well let me see," Ginny said, looking around the circle where there were at least half a dozen guys who were eager to be chosen. But instead of picking them, she said: "Malfoy."

"What? No way, I'll take off a piece of clothing, thank you very much." But she didn't have anything to take off except her shirt and jeans. '_Why on earth didn't I bring a sweater!_' Nora thought hysterically while mentally slapping herself. Hermione patted her consolingly on the arm, for the second time that night. Nora gave her a horrified look before going over to Malfoy very reluctantly.

"All right, then," Ginny said cheerfully, Nora glared at her, planning on strangling her as soon as this bloody stupid game was over. "Now, I'll set the timer, and when the minute's over you'll hear a "ping". Ok?"

"Do I have too?" Nora whined, looking pleadingly at Ron's little sister. Who on earth would've thought she could be so evil.

"Yes you do, or would you rather take off your shirt?" Ginny raised an eyebrow and Nora sighed.

"Not really, no." She looked at Malfoy and indicated him to stand up, just knowing he was enjoying every moment of this. Malfoy, however, looked indifferent, though Harry and Ron were seething with rage. When Ginny said "Go" Nora pressed her lips carefully onto his and began kissing him, wishing it would be over very soon enough. But unfortunately, time seemed to slow down making it last at least twice as long. She continued to kiss Malfoy, counting the seconds in her head but she couldn't help but think '_he's not a bad kisser, how'd he get so good?_' A bell rang and Nora quickly pushed Malfoy away from her, hurrying to her seat beside Hermione, giving Malfoy one last glare. While Harry and Ron were plotting ways to kill him. After that the game went on and a lot of people ended up kissing a lot of other people. Finally, when it was getting late, Ginny said she had a truth for all of them.

"Ok. Now boys stand up," she said. The boys did as they were told and got out of the circle. "Now girls, make a space so that one boy can sit in between you and your neighbor. I want the arrangement to be boy/girl/boy/girl ok?" They did as they were told and the guys mingled a bit before sitting down in between two girls at random, most of them being directed by Ginny. "Now I want the boys to kiss their right neighbour first and then their left neighbour, and when that's done you have to tell the whole group who kissed the best. Girls have to say that too.

"Ginny?"

"What, Nora?"

"I can't kiss Malfoy, he's my worst enemy! And I'm not kissing Harry, he's my best friend!"

"Stop complaining and just do it." When everyone had kissed both their neighbours, Ginny went around the group making them tell who kissed the best. Hannah Abbott found Justin Finch-Fletchley a better kisser than Ernie McMillian, Hermione found Terry a better kisser than Seamus, Nora found, feeling embarrassed once more, Malfoy a better kisser than Harry, Dean found Crystal-Rose a better kisser than Lavender and so on… After that was done every one went to go to their common rooms. Ginny made to go, too, but Nora held her back so that they were alone.

"Why'd you do that!" Nora hissed, annoyed and furious.

"Do what?" Ginny answered innocently looking at Nora questioningly

"Making me kiss Malfoy! For an entire minute! You know what he did to me! Hermione must've told you." Nora shuddered, trying to get rid of that feeling of being filthy.

"Because… if… and…" Ginny mumbled.

"What? I only heard half of it!"

"Because! He said that if I made you kiss him he would give me twenty galleons, and you know I need the money! Well, it wasn't really that, I thought it'd be fun to tease you and if I got money out of it, even better. Look, I'm sorry. I really thought you wouldn't mind that much," Ginny said truthfully, shrugging. "I thought you'd recovered for the larger part. It's been almost two months since it happened..."

"It still feels like yesterday though," muttered Nora darkly, but she quickly tried to stop the memory from playing in her head for the hundredth time. But it certainly makes matters different. So if you'll excuse me, I have to go yell at Mr. Can't-keep-his-fingers-nor-his-money-at-home." Ginny chuckled and walked out of the room with Nora, who then ran through the corridors straight towards the common room. When she entered it she found Malfoy sitting on the sofa talking to Hermione and Terry.

"I need to have a very long word with you!" she snarled pointing a finger straight at Malfoy. The other two knew this as their cue to go and they hurried up the spiral staircase, holding hands.

"What's up?" Malfoy asked her innocently, obviously pretending he had no clue why she was so angry.

"You know damn well 'what's up'! You bribed Ginny to dare me to kiss you!" Nora shouted, jabbing a finger in his chest, her eyebrows forming two severe lines and her eyes narrowed in fury.

"So?"

"So?" shrieked Nora. "You know I don't want to kiss you! _Especially_ not after what you did! And don't act like you do nothing wrong!"

"Hey!" yelled Draco, getting up angrily. "It's hard for me too you know! Seeing you with Potty and Weasel and making me wish I was one of them, so I could hang around with you every day! And it makes me loathe myself!" The two stood barely a foot apart, glaring at each other, but Nora was sincerely shocked; she'd never thought of it that way.

"But you didn't need to bribe Ginny to make me kiss you!" she shouted, recovering from that little, and quite nasty, surprise.

"Well, I didn't have a choice did I? I can't just ask you! What other options are there?" Nora sat down; she was beginning to feel sorry for Malfoy, despite the rage bubbling inside her. He sat down across from her.

"All right, look," Nora said, calming down. She looked deep into his cold gray eyes, but they seemed to have melted, for they were no longer cold, and looked more like blue than gray. "When we go to the Halloween Ball together, I'll let you kiss me once, ok?" Malfoy agreed, but very hesitantly, and Nora stood up and went upstairs, for some reason satisfied with her decision.

* * *

_A/N_: Nice long Chapter D

**Lorsparrow**: Thanks for pointing my mistake out to me. I changed it as soon as I read your review.


	9. Hogsmeade

_A/N_: Well, ShadowRogue I'm glad you have as much fun reading my story as I do reading yours:) Though I think yours is a lot funnier than mine. All right getting back to the story:

**Chapter 9: Hogsmeade**

That week it was beginning to get very obvious the Halloween Ball was coming nearer. Girls traveled in small groups of four or five and giggled uncontrollably whenever a boy came near them. The boys were showing signs too: most of them looked very nervous and were sweating a bit too much and others, like Neville, looked terrified whenever they came near a group of girls, who would begin giggling uncontrollably again, causing small breakdowns amongst the somewhat weaker boys.

"Well, they are certainly taking this to an extreme level," Hermione huffed, looking at a group of Hufflepuff girls who began giggling furiously when a boy, after having mustered all of his courage, walked over to them.

"Hermione, you have no idea what it's like," Ron said weakly, "It's like a living hell out there," Waving his arm around, indicating he meant Hogwarts castle. "It's like they want to eat you alive, but can't do it on their own, so they bring all their friends and humiliate you before you get shot down." A very horrified look made it's way onto his face.

"Oh, please," said Hermione, irritably.

"It's true," Harry agreed

"Yes," said Nora, nodding. "It's what we do. But we'd better hurry up, or we'll be late for class." They all stood up and made their way to Defense against the Dark Arts with professor Spring.

* * *

That night a notice was put up on all the notice boards in the school:

_Dear Hogwarts students,_

_As you know, the Halloween Ball will be this Sunday. You are all advised to wear costumes, and as I assume most of you do not have one, a Hogsmeade trip will be allowed for all of the third years and above on Saturday. The rest of you will have to do with old clothes you already have and some teachers will be willing to help you and teach you a few spells to make your own costumes._

_Sincerely,_

_Dumbledore_.

"I just can't wait to go, then! I don't know what I'm going to go as though, but I guess we'll just browse the shops for something nice," Hermione told Nora excitedly before going to bed.

* * *

That week passed fairly quickly, and before they knew it, it was already Saturday.

"I just can't wait to go to Hogsmeade!" Hermione squealed, for what felt was the hundredth time.

"Hermione, shut up, you've already told us," Harry told her irritably.

"So, are you two going with Parvati and Lavender?" Nora asked him and Ron, before Hermione had a chance to argue.

"Yeah," Ron said blushing a bit, "Who are you going with?"

"Hermione's going with Terry," said Nora. She hadn't told them she was being forced to go with Malfoy yet and she wasn't planning to, either. She knew exactly how they'd react: Ron would shout at her and Harry would glare at her and the Slytherin's as if she had just betrayed him.

"We knew that already, who are you going with?" Ron asked her again.

"Me? Oh, I'm… erm… going with…" Her voice trailed off near the end, but Harry and Ron had both heard.

"What? With MALFOY?" Ron exclaimed, receiving a glare from McGonagall.

"Ron! Keep it down, please," Nora begged him; she didn't want the whole school to hear their conversation. Ron paid no attention to her plea.

"You're going with MALFOY? To the Ball? WHY?" he cried, receiving another glare from McGonagall.

"Ron! Keep it down, I don't want the whole school to hear!"

"Well? Are you?" he asked. Harry was making the exact same face she pictured he'd make, like everything awful in the world was her fault.

"Yes! But Dumbledore is making us! Now either shut up or quiet down!" Nora ordered him, her temper rising up. Ron closed his mouth, though he glared at her, and Nora calmed down a bit as she grabbed a large lemon pie and was about to take a piece.

"I can't believe you're going to the ball with _him_!" Ron burst out, not able to just let it go. Nora snapped.

"I thought I'd told you to be quiet!" She cried in despair, slamming the lemon pie that she had still been holding, loudly on the table. Then she stood up and ran out of the Great Hall, leaving people to either stare at her or Ron. Nora ran to her favorite tree, where she always went when she needed to think and suddenly broke into tears. Thanks to Ron the whole school now knew that she was going to the ball with Malfoy. '_The stupid idiot. Does he not know when to keep his big fat mouth shut?_' she thought angrily right before she noticed that a shadow had appeared beside her. Nora looked up to find Hermione with both of their cloaks and money.

"I know Ron can be a selfless git sometimes, but I was hoping to still go into Hogsmeade. I really want to go, but I think you already know that, as Harry had been so rude to tell me," Hermione said. Nora smiled through her tears, and when she stood up and looked at her best friend, she saw to her horror that her eyes were filled with tears too.

"Why are you crying? It's not because of Harry, is it? Did it really hurt you that bad?" Nora asked her.

"No, no, it's just that… well… when I saw you and Ron fighting it… it kind of reminded me of my parents." Her tears began to flow too and the two friends made their way towards the cozy village of Hogsmeade with their arms around each others' shoulders, both of them crying silently.

When they had finally reached Hogsmeade their tears had dried up and they were chatting happily.

"Ooooooh, look," Hermione said pointing to a shop called Madam Malkins' Costumes. "I bet she's got costumes, she owns the store where we get our Hogwarts' robes, too, you know."

"Well, then, let's go check." And they both made their way towards the store. The shop was incredibly large inside and it had millions of costumes that hung along the walls. To the right were dressing cabins, to try on a costume.

"Maybe we should hurry up a bit, it's not too crowded yet, but that might change," Hermione said looking around. "Actually, we're the only ones here."

"Even better, let's go browse." They both made their way to a different section and scanned millions of costumes, though none they liked. Nora looked at Gypsy costume, it was rather nice, but not really her style, so she kept looking around. Hermione found a mermaid costume but she thought it would be a bit too much trouble, with the tail and all, so she kept browsing as well. After what felt like hours they had finally both found a costume they liked and tried it on, gasping when they saw each other.

"Nora, you look gorgeous!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Oh my god, so do you!" Nora was wearing an angel costume. It had white high-healed shoes with straps, and the dress she wore was white too and felt like fine silk. It fit her perfectly and the bottom of it just reached the ground if she wore the shoes. The sleeves of the dress fit her upper arms snuggly and when they passed her elbows they grew much wider. To top the costume off, there was a halo that floated perfectly above her head.

Hermione was wearing a Muggle witch costume. It looked just like Nora's but it was all in black. There was a black necklace around her neck with a dark amulet, in which there were a few colors that looked like they were mixing, but they never did. There was black, dark blue, dark purple and dark green. It looked very amazing and highly mysterious. On Hermione's head was a black pointed witches hat, she held a broom in one of her hands but had decided to leave the wart that was supposed to be put on her nose, off. They both smiled and knew these were the costumes they were going to get. After changing back into their normal clothes they both went to Madam Malkin, who was standing behind a wooden counter, waiting for them to buy something.

"Ah, I see you two have made a choice," she said in a comforting tone, smiling sweetly. Nora and Hermione nodded and both paid for their costumes. When they were about to leave, the curiosity got the better of Hermione and she turned around again.

"Excuse me, Madame Malkin?" she asked.

"Yes dear, did you want to ask something?"

"Yes, why is it that we are the only costumers in here, when every Hogwarts student is trying to find a costume?"

"Very simple, dear. I have put a spell on my shop that enables you to become invisible to the other costumers if you do not want them to see you or what costume you are buying. That is why you can only see yourself and your friend in here and nobody else. You want to keep your costume a secret from everyone except her," Madam Malkin answered smiling. "It's good to see such curiosity and the will to learn something new in a child these days." Hermione beamed and then both girls left to go to the Three Broomsticks.

"That's actually quiet interesting," Hermione said thoughtfully. "I was actually worrying on our way over to Hogsmeade that someone would see what my costume was. I did want to keep it a secret from Terry…" They entered the Three Broomsticks and Nora ordered two Butterbeers while Hermione found a vacant seat by the window. The room was decorated in orange and black and real live bats were fluttering above the visitors. There were small pumpkins in a few corners and on the tables were orange and black candles. Nora looked at their candles and saw the flames flicker as a chilly gust of air passed them. She looked up to see who had just walked in and moaned. It was Harry and Ron.

"I really don't want to see them right now. I'm still furious with Ron, and I'm not feeling any better about Harry. You should've seen how he looked at me," Nora complained to Hermione.

"I did. I thought it was unbelievable. Blaming you for going to the Ball with that hateful, slimy, pathetic excuse for a human being. The nerve, honestly," Hermione said. Just then Harry and Ron came over to their table, very cautiously. Harry nudged Ron in the ribs.

"Erm… Hi, er… I was hoping to see you here," he told Nora.

"And why is that? Come to shout some more and humiliate me in the process?" she replied, not looking at him but outside, watching a few couples walk by. She felt lonely now, not only because she didn't have a boyfriend, but also because she had to go to the Ball with Malfoy. It was like Dumbledore knew she'd have no one else to go with, and decided to torture her a bit more. Though she had to admit, Malfoy was softening up a bit on her.

"No, erm… I wanted to ehm… apologize for my behavior this morning. I shouldn't have yelled at you." Ron was getting on track now. "It was a stupid thing to do. And I really hate myself now for shouting at you, and I'm really sorry for humiliating you in front of the whole school. I didn't mean too, I just erm…" he lost it, and went back to his stuttering, his ears turned a bit red too, Harry nudged him again, "Oh, right. I was just… well… erm…" another nudged from Harry, "Ow! I was just trying to look out for you. You know we don't want you to get hurt." He pointed at himself and Harry. Just then Dean walked in with Crystal Rose and Ron scowled. "Like what he did to you." Nora looked up and found Dean walking toward the four of them with a Butterbeer in one hand and an arm around Crystal-Rose. Nora hoped that he wasn't going to mention what he heard about Malfoy. But, unfortunately, hoping hadn't worked at breakfast and obviously wouldn't work now.

"So, I heard, and very clearly at that, that you were going to the Ball with Malfoy," he said.

"Yes, so?"

"Nothing, nothing,"

"Dumbledore is making us go together!" Nora shouted at his back as he walked away, snogging Crystal. He waved a hand to show he'd heard her. Nora scowled and put her head in her hands. Harry and Ron sat down at the table and questioned Hermione, to her annoyance, about Terry.

* * *

When the four left the Three Broomsticks they looked around the shops and Ron bought some stuff at Zonko's. Halfway down the street he made them look at a vacant shop in the middle of the already occupied shops, somewhere in the street.

"What are we supposed to be looking at?" Harry asked him, tilting his head, trying to see something.

"Well I got a letter this morning from Fred and George. They bought this shop and should have it done and filled by begin December, so we can buy stuff there on the next Hogsmeade visit. Cool huh?" Ron replied enthusiastically. "I can't wait," he added, with a bit of an evil grin on his face. Hermione and Nora both dragged him away from the shop worried. Ron was actually clinging to the front window, like a little child to a candy store.

After they had finished visiting the rest of the shops they went back towards the castle. Hermione and Nora were both very excited to show the boys their costumes tomorrow at the Ball. The two grinned, and Ron, noticing, poked Harry in the arm to ask him what he thought of it.

"Probably girl stuff, Ron. We wouldn't understand," Harry muttered.

"Ah, right," replied Ron.

* * *

_A/N_: Hope you liked it. Next chappy: The Halloween Ball! Can't wait to write it! 


	10. The Halloween Ball

**Chapter 10: The Halloween Ball**

The four sat down at the Gryffindor table to eat dinner. Harry and Ron still glancing at Hermione and Nora to see if they were all right. Neither of them dared to ask what the girls were grinning about. After the girls had finished dinner they went to their common room leaving Harry and Ron by themselves.

"What do you think they were talking about?" Harry muttered to Ron

"I dunno, about guys, maybe?" Ron murmured back, grimacing at the thought of it. Just then Seamus walked over to them and asked if they were done. He waited while Harry and Ron ate the rest of their dinner and then they walked into the Entrance Hall.

"So, who's Nora going to the Ball with?" Seamus asked them.

"Malfoy," Harry said bitterly.

"What, really?" Harry and Ron nodded. "Why?"

"Dunno," said Ron, looking at Harry who shrugged. Nora hadn't told them why she was going to the ball with Malfoy… but they hadn't really given her a chance to explain.

"Well… he's pretty lucky, then."

"What! … Why?" Ron asked him, peering suspiciously at his friend.

"Well, he's going to the Ball with Nora. I mean she's smart, funny, attractive, not so girly AND she likes Quidditch! That's like the perfect combination! Those kind of girls are really hard to find," Seamus said exasperated.

"Well, there's Hermione."

"Yes, but she doesn't like Quidditch that much and she's dating Terry," Harry told him.

"Malfoy is so lucky," Seamus said again, sighing as they turned a corner. Ron looked annoyed; he didn't like it when guys talked like that about Hermione or Nora. The two were kind of like sisters to him and he _hated_ it when Ginny dated someone.

"And why is that?" came Malfoy's drawling voice. Seamus froze.

"Because… well, you get to go to the Ball with Nora," he managed to say.

"That would make me unlucky. And I don't get to, I have to." He scowled and passed them to go to his common room, thinking: '_I am indeed quite lucky._'

* * *

The next day the two girls woke up feeling very cheerful. They went to breakfast early and then went to the lake, to wait for the guys, watching the giant squid swim in the water. It was a nice day, with the occasional cool breeze and the warm sun on their faces and the lovely crunching sound as they walked on the fallen leaves. When the boys joined them they sat around chatting happily.

"So what do you want to do?" Ron asked bored.

"Well, the Ball doesn't start until eight o'clock, which means we have to start getting ready at about six…" Hermione began, calculating.

"What?" Harry spluttered, "You two need _two _whole hours to get ready for the Ball?"

"Well, not necessarily, but it's best to be ready early, than late," Hermione explained to him, annoyed at being cut off. "So we have about six hours to do something, though I don't know what."

"We could play wizard chess, here outside?" Ron offered.

"Yeah, let's do that," Harry said enthusiastically, and they both got up to get the chess set from their dorm. Hermione and Nora remained under the large birch tree, just talking, when an eagle owl landed near them with a note in its beak. The bird dropped it in Nora's lap and then took off again.

"What's that?" Ron asked pointing at the note as he and Harry arrived, carrying Ron's battered chess set. Nora read it and then said:

"It's from Malfoy." Harry and Ron stopped smiling and glared at the letter.

"What's it say?" Harry asked bitterly.

"It says I can meet him at the portrait, that leads out of our common room, whenever I'm ready to go to the Ball. He'll be waiting there for me."

"Oh," Ron grumbled, he then put down the chess set and began playing a match with Harry, while the girls watched. At one thirty they went inside to have lunch. After that they went to the library to try and finish most of their homework.

"What else can I write for Care of Magical Creatures?" Ron asked his three friends. He was working on the assignment Hagrid had given them.

"Well, did you list all of the creatures?" Harry asked him. "There are loads that provide ingredients for potions."

"Ah, no, I didn't. Thanks," Ron told him, writing it down eagerly, with the tip of his tongue sticking out.

"I just listed the creatures that provided the most used ingredients," Nora told them, reviewing what she had written so far. "This could have easily been a potions assignment."

"Yeah, but Snape wouldn't give us something as easy as this," Harry told her. "I mean, he's always giving us something that we can barely finish."

"Done," Ron said happily. "No more homework! Wanna play some more wizard chess?" he asked Harry, who shrugged and grinned.

"Sure, come on, I think we accidentally left it under the tree."

"I hope nobody took it. But at least now we don't have to get it from our dormitory again," Ron replied, walking off with Harry.

"Boys," Nora, who was adding finishing touches to her writing, heard Hermione mutter.

"Done too, wanna go watch them, or do something else?" she asked.

"Dunno, there isn't anything else to do is there?"

"No, not really. Unless you want to hang out with Parvati and Lavender, but they're always squealing and stuff. It's slightly frustrating."

"Yes, I know," Hermione agreed. "Well, then, I guess we could go watch Harry and Ron play wizard chess." They got up, packed their finished homework in their bags and made their way towards their favorite Birch tree, to watch the boys play. At six fifteen Hermione nudged Nora looking very shocked and pointing at her watch, they both got up and ran towards the castle at full speed.

"What's up with them?" Ron asked looking up and watching them run off.

"Dunno. They probably have to apply even more make-up or something. Either way, it's girl stuff," replied Harry, grimacing as Ron's queen beat up his knight.

"That's your explanation for everything isn't it?"

"Well, it's just easier that way." They both laughed. Hermione came running back very quickly grabbed a piece of parchment and then ran off again towards Nora, who was standing in front of the Main Entrance waiting impatiently, then they both disappeared inside.

"Girls," Harry and Ron muttered, laughing again. Nora and Hermione ran into their common room, up the spiral staircase, leaving Terry and Malfoy looking very stunned, and then into the bathroom. They both took showers and, when they were dried off, they put on their costumes. Hermione helped put Nora's hair in a high knot, letting pieces of hair hanging from it in different places. Two strands of hair were left out to frame her face. When she was all done, Nora used a spell, which Hermione had found in the library while the rest had been working on the Care of Magical Creatures assignment, to make Hermione's hair wavy instead of the usual bushiness. Hermione painted her toe and finger nails black and Nora painted hers white.

And because it was Halloween and they hardly ever used make-up, opposed to what Harry and Ron always said, Hermione gave Nora white highlights, and put white eye shadow and white lipstick on her face, while Nora put black lipstick and dark blue eye shadow on Hermione's. Then Nora took out thirteen plain bracelets she had found and cast a charm on them to make them white. She then put six on her right wrist and seven on her left one; having always favored her left hand more, because it was her wand hand. Then, when they were completely dressed up, Hermione went into her room and grabbed Crookshanks.

"What are you going to do with your cat?" Nora asked interestedly, and somewhat suspiciously, scratching Crookshanks behind the ears.

"Well, in Muggle stories the witches always have a black cat, so I decided that I would cast a spell to make Crookshanks black. But only for tonight. The spell wears off after a while and then he'll have his normal color back," Hermione explained, fingering her wand.

"That's pretty very clever," Nora said in aw, but of course, Hermione was one of the cleverest witches. Looking at her watch she said: "Oh, it's already seven fifty, I'm going to go down to Malfoy now, all right?"

"That's fine. I promised I'd wait up here for Terry, so I'll meet you in the Great Hall, right?" Nora nodded, feeling slightly nervous, and then made her way down the spiral staircase and as she reached the bottom she saw Malfoy looking at the notice board. He was dressed as a vampire, the way Muggles thought they looked, and was wearing what looked like a tuxedo. A cape was hung over his shoulders and there was a live bat fluttering a bit above his head. She knew that he would probably have fangs too. Nora walked over to him.

"See anything interesting?" she asked, looking at the notice board.

"Morning classes are canceled, because of the Ball," he said, turning around. "And Y-you."

"Well, I was referring to the notice board only, but the last answer is a lot more flattering," she said, smiling, perhaps a bit awkwardly. Malfoy leaned forward and kissed her deep and passionately. Somehow Nora received butterflies in her stomach.

"Already?" she asked when he pulled away. "I thought you'd wait until it was midnight or something."

"Well, I was going to, but… Potter and Weasley… it'd wouldn't have been very wise…" He looked out of the window. Outside a heavy wind was blowing and red and brown leaves were fluttering through the air, blown off of their trees. Nora looked outside too and then fixed her eyes back on Malfoy, trying to read some expression on his face, but it was expressionless.

"That was very decent of you. Should we go, then?" she asked. Malfoy nodded and he offered her his arm. She took it. Just then Hermione and Terry came down. Terry was doing a very good job indeed at goggling at his date. The four walked down towards the Entrance Hall together and as the reached it, they noticed that the doors to the Great Hall were already open, so they walked inside with the rest of the people who were just arriving. They all looked around in aw. The whole room had black and orange banners crossing the ceiling. There were very large pumpkins everywhere and a stage had been placed where the Staff table usually was. There was a large dance floor in the middle. The house tables had been removed and instead there were small tables that could seat two to four people. These were placed around the dance floor. There were also tables that could seat eight people near the walls, and further from the dance floor. Hermione noticed Harry, Ron, Parvati and Lavender sitting at one of these tables and she dragged the rest over to them with her.

"Hi," she said beaming, holding a currently black, and agitated, Crookshanks in her arms.

"Hermione, you look fabulous!" Parvati squealed. Lavender nodded her agreement, petting a now purring Crookshanks.

"Well, you two look wonderful, too." Parvati and Lavender were both going as princesses. They were wearing green and blue dresses that looked like the ones women wore in medieval movies. They did look really great, though perhaps a bit childish with the small tiara's on their heads. "Harry, Ron, what do you think? Hello?" Hermione asked them, but the two were to busy glaring at Nora's "date".

"What's he doing here?" Ron said, pointing rudely towards Malfoy.

"I already told you, Ron: We're going together," Nora said, infuriated once more. Didn't they _ever_ listen?

"Well, you don't have to bring him over to our table," Harry told her.

"Fine then, we'll both leave!" and she stomped off, dragging Malfoy along with her, who didn't look at all pleased.

"Honestly, you two could at least try to get along with him!" Hermione scoffed. "It's not easy for her either you know. It's not like she wants to be here with him." Then she turned and walked over to the table for four, where Nora now sat sulking, frowning in frustration. She sat down next to her.

"Where's Malfoy?"

"He's getting some Butterbeer." Nora sighed as Terry sat down next to Hermione. Malfoy joined them with two cups of punch.

"Hermione, would you like to dance?" Terry asked. Hermione nodded blissfully and they both got up and walked towards the dance floor.

"I've been thinking.." began Malfoy, "since we have to be here together I was thinking that maybe we should call each other by our first names."

"All right, sure. Sounds like a good idea," agreed Nora, her anger slowly subsiding.

"So… erm, d'you want to… dance?" he asked her awkwardly. She nodded and Mal… Draco led her towards the dance floor as a slow song began. Draco looked around and noticed couples slow dancing together all around them. He didn't know what to do, or rather: he was torn between wanting to dance with Nora and fearing what it might do to his reputation. Nora put her arms around his neck and Draco thought he'd figure out a way to save his reputation later. Nora looked towards Harry and Ron, who were glaring at the pair of them, and to annoy them even more she put her head on Draco's shoulder. Hermione and Terry were dancing contentedly a few feet away. A few people were pointing at Nora: Draco's bat was now flying in and out of her Halo, doing a few minor stunts. People laughed at it, until they looked to whom the bat belonged to and noticed Draco.

When the song ended the two of them walked back to their table to eat something. Nora picked up her menu and after looking it over, she said clearly: "Chicken menu three." Her food appeared on her plate: Chicken breast with French fries and some salad. Draco couldn't decide what to choose so just ordered what Nora had.

"You know," he said "I've never eaten fries that much,"

"Really? Why not? I usually eat it once a week when I'm at Hogwarts," Nora replied, astounded.

"Well, whenever I want to eat fries, Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle always reach them before me and eat them all. So I usually don't get a chance." Nora snorted and looked over at Pansy, who was on the dance floor dancing with a very unlucky fifth year Slytherin, who was trying to get people to switch partners.

"She _is_ very fat." They both laughed at the sight of Pansy, who had dressed up as a belly dancer, but because of all the fat, it looked pretty horrific. Nora looked around and saw a few gypsies walking around, some witches, though they had different costumes than Hermione, there were some more belly dancers and princesses and she even saw a few of the youngest students going as Dumbledore and Snape, as if Good and Evil had human forms. The two chatted some more and they had a really great time, until Nora found two pairs of eyes boring into her. She looked to the side and saw Harry and Ron still glaring at her, a bored Parvati and Lavender at her side. Her anger rose and, because her mood-swings sometimes got out of control, she felt absolutely furious with them. She got up and heatedly made her way around tables and chairs to get to them. Some people who noticed her, because she pushed them roughly aside, pointed and stared shocked, not only because she looked as if she could kill, but also because her Halo had turned dark red. She stopped.

"What on earth are you two looking at," she snarled at them, arms folded.

"At you and ferret boy there," Harry replied bitterly, though he avoided her eyes.

"May I ask why?"

"Because he's a sleazy slime ball, that's why," Ron told her, also avoiding looking straight at her.

"Look, this is none of your business! You should be out there dancing with Parvati and Lavender!" Nora looked around to see where they were, and found them taking cover near the dance floor.

"Why? So you can have a peaceful time snogging Malfoy?" Nora's eyes widened in fury and shock.

"Excuse me?" she said, hardly believing that she was having this conversation.

"Terry told us you two were snogging in your Common Room before the four of you went down to the Ball," Ron said, looking up straight into her eyes. Nora felt as if her stomach had vanished. There was an awful feeling of dread flowing through her, like the feeling you get when you're caught doing something not allowed, like stealing. She hadn't noticed that they had seen her.

"That… that is none of your business. It was… it was just a promise I had made him."

"A promise? You promised our worst enemy you'd snog him before the Ball? Nora, you betrayed us!" Harry said, standing up in anger.

"I did not betray you! And I promise you, it won't happen again! But if you just got to know him, like I do, he's actually really nice!"

"Yeah, well I'd rather hate him, than get to know him by snogging somewhere in an 'empty room'," Ron muttered, but Nora still heard.

"I meant, if you talked, you'd notice that he's actually quiet nice," she told them, almost in a plea.

"No way! He's still our enemy," Harry said resolutely, shooting another glare at Draco.

"Well, he may remain your enemy, but he's my friend, so you'll have to back off on the glaring and the comments," she said dangerously. "Now, please, go have fun with Parvati and Lavender, they deserve it, ok?" The two boys glared at her, but then, knowing it wasn't getting them anywhere, they agreed.

"Fine." They shrugged, admitting defeat, and the three of them walked over to the dance floor. Nora's halo had gone back to its original color now, and she began dancing with Draco again. After that the Halloween Ball was really great, and although Nora had to give them a few warnings, Harry and Ron were trying to get along with Draco. It didn't really work, but they stayed short of the nasty comments and that was all that mattered. At one o'clock Dumbledore told them that the dance was nearly over and that that the last song would be played. All the couples, including Nora and Draco, danced together to the slow song. Dumbledore grabbed Professor McGonagall and waltzed around the room with her, though waltzing didn't fit the music at all. They made their way through the dancing couples and McGonagall was actually smiling. After the song they all made their way to their common rooms. Hermione, Nora, Terry, and Draco talked for a while with the other prefects.

After a while the Great Hall began to empty but the Heads and Prefects stayed to clean it up. When they were finally done they all went to their common room and plopped onto the chairs and sofa's resting and talking about the success of the Halloween Ball and that morning classes were canceled. When it was very late in the night, or very early in the morning, the prefects all went to bed, soon followed by Hermione and Terry. Draco got up to leave too, but Nora stood up quickly and grabbed his arm, turning him around.

"What?" he asked her. Nora kissed him deeply. He looked shocked, but there was a slight grin on his face.

"That was because you couldn't kiss me during the Ball," she said with a faint smile on her face. "I have to tell you something though… erm…" she looked away and stood for a moment in thought, one hand on her forehead. Then she took his hands and sat down on the sofa, Draco sitting down beside her.

"Is it a good something?" he questioned. Nora shook her head.

"Well, half. I just wanted to tell you, that… that nothing will happen between us… ever. You said you had feelings for me and I know you were hoping that I might get feelings for you somewhere along the way, but I don't… and won't, and it wouldn't have been a good idea for us to date, anyway."

"How is that half good?" Draco asked, heartbroken. He looked on the verge of tears, but so did Nora.

"You did get one thing you wished for."

"Which is?"

"You told me, after the Truth or Dare game, that you wished you could be my friend so that you could hang around with me, like Harry and Ron do."

"So?"

"Well, these last few weeks you've become a good friend of mine. So, at least you get one wish granted. But it is better if we don't go out, and just remain friends." She gave him a quick hug, before running up the spiral staircase to her room, letting her tears fall freely, not knowing why that had been so difficult. She fell onto her bed and cried into the covers. She didn't even know why.

Draco slowly walked up to his room. Nora had left her door open, in her hurry to reach her bed, and he peeked in and saw her lying there, crying. He entered his own room and fell onto his bed facing the ceiling, his face once more expressionless. They were both deep in thought when they fell asleep.

* * *

_A/N_: Review? 


	11. Attacked

**Chapter 11: Attacked**

Nora woke up looking terrible that morning. Her face was tearstained and her eyes were red and puffy. She went to the bathroom and washed her face, trying to hide the fact that she had cried herself to sleep. Hermione woke up, too and both girls made their way to the Great Hall for lunch. Even though it was Monday, Dumbledore let the students miss their first two classes, because the Halloween Ball had ended a tad late, at one o'clock.

"Hey, I only just noticed you're wearing that necklace that went with your costume, it looks nice on you," Nora told Hermione, who beamed.

After lunch they made their way towards the Greenhouses with Harry and Ron. Luckily they were finished with taking care of their Goreenwahs and had moved on to Sunrays. Sunrays were little plants that looked harmless but if endangered they would show very sharp pointy teeth and try to bite their attacker. The little teeth contained poisonous fluids that would make you pass out, and if not taken care of in the next twenty-four hours you would die. The Sunrays were yellow, hence the name, but with orange leaves.

"Professor Sprout must really hate us," Ron muttered while his Sunray was snapping around, trying to bite his hands. "She only gives us creepy plants that can kill us. I bet she's hoping none of us are careful and that we get eaten by these stupid weeds."

"I know," muttered Harry agitated, backing away from his Sunray. "I bet the next plant we get to take care of will be seven feet tall and can eat an entire horse."

"Better be careful, your Sunray is getting very close to your hand," Nora warned him. He quickly pulled his arm away.

"Thanks. These plants are awful, I really don't see why we have to take care of them."

"Well, it would be very useful if you ever got lost in a forest. You'd be able to recognize the dangerous ones and stay a way from them, or treat any wounds that you've gotten," Hermione said as though this was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Who says we'll ever get lost in a bloody forest?" Ron asked her. But right then the bell rang and because everyone, including Harry and Ron, was hurrying outside to get away from the Sunrays, Hermione wasn't able to reply.

* * *

That night notices were put up about the upcoming Quidditch match on Saturday and Harry informed the whole Gryffindor team that they would be practicing every evening that week. Friday night, when Hermione left the library, she found the whole Gryffindor Quidditch team walking up towards their common room, exhausted. She caught up with Harry and asked about their practice.

"Well, the team is getting really good. The chasers have finally started communicating, they're beginning to sense when the Quaffle will be passed, and the beaters can keep most of the bludgers away from the other players. I think we can win tomorrow, especially since it's Hufflepuff we're playing against," he added grinning.

"You never know, maybe they've got really good tactics this year," she told him sternly.

"Hermione, they haven't practiced a single time this week," Harry said, laughing.

"How do you know?"

"Because, I'd booked the pitch for the whole week. They didn't even show up once, or object." The entire team entered the hallway that led to the portrait of the Fat Lady, except for Nora, who walked towards her common room with Hermione. It was already dark and after the hard practice Nora made her way straight to bed.

* * *

A man was bowing down on the floor. He looked up at another man sitting in a chair that stood in the middle of an empty room.

_"I'm sorry master… We could not find it… We searched _everywhere_. We really did," _The man on the floor said, in between sobs.

_"Get up," _his master hissed. _"Have you really searched everywhere? Or is it just another petty lie." _The man whimpered. He was rather short and could lose a couple of pounds.

"_No, sir, we really did search everywhere. We searched the entire building, twice. But we could not find it."_

_"Very well. Search a different building next time. Maybe it is in Hogsmeade. Search there," _The man said angrily. He needed to find what he was looking for, before someone else would find it first.

_"Yes, master. Thank you, master."_

_"Now, leave. I need to think."_

* * *

Harry woke up with his scar burning badly. He felt angry, but he didn't know why… well, he knew why, because of Voldemort, but he didn't know why Voldemort was angry. While looking at his nightstand, and seeing that it was five o'clock in the morning, a large headache began to form and suddenly a wave of sadness and guilt washed over him. Normally he would have written to Sirius about the dream, but now he couldn't. Sirius was dead. Harry got up, put on his glasses and went downstairs into his common room. The match against Hufflepuff was still seven hours away. Harry sat down in a chair in front of the fireplace and thought. It had taken a very long time to fall asleep and when he finally did doze off, it had been interrupted by a strange dream. The man that had been kneeling on the floor had looked vaguely familiar to him, but he had not seen that well because the room had been completely dark, except for small rays of moonlight falling through a few long, thin windows. He also had an idea as to who the man in the chair was, but his snake, Nagini, hadn't been there. That was a first. His thoughts wandered back to Sirius and a few tears rolled down his face. Slowly he fell asleep on the sofa.

* * *

"Harry Potter, sir?" Harry turned around and fell off the sofa onto the floor with a dull thud. "Is Harry Potter being all right?" Harry opened his eyes and saw a blurry green with white spot standing in front of him. He put on his glasses to see Dobby standing in front of him looking anxious.

"Dobby? What are you doing here?" He asked the little house elf thickly.

"Dobby is coming to light the morning fire when he is seeing something on the floor. Dobby immediately is running to find Harry Potter, sir. You must be coming quickly."

"What? What time is it Dobby?"

"It is now being seven o'clock Harry Potter, sir. But you must be coming now." Dobby said looking around with his eyes opened wide in fright.

"… What is it that you want again?" Harry frowned and rubbed his eyes sleepily, trying to pay attention to what Dobby was saying, though everything seemed to go into one ear and go right out of the other.

"Come with Dobby, sir, and he will be showing you." And with that the little house elf grabbed Harry's arm with its little hand and led him out of the common room. They walked a few steps through the corridor that led to the Fat Lady when Harry saw something, or rather someone, on the ground. He immediately ran over to the person on the floor, with Dobby at his heels, and gasped.

"Neville," he whispered, somewhat confused.

"Dobby is thinking that Harry Potter would be knowing what to do, sir."

"Erm... we should probably bring him to the hospital wing." Harry made to grab his wand, but realized he was still in his pajamas, so he put his arms under Neville's armpits and asked Dobby to grab Neville's feet. The elf did as he was asked and together they carried him up to the infirmary. Harry loudly knocked on the door and after a few minutes Madam Pomfrey opened it slightly, looking very sleepy.

"Harry? What is it, dear?" She looked at him and then at the house elf, which was pointing at Neville. "Oh, my! Well, come on! Bring him in!" She fully opened the door and rushed over to the bed that was nearest, ordering Harry and Dobby to lay Neville onto it. Madam Pomfrey began examining him at once, muttering a few things under her breath. When she finished she told Harry to go to Dumbledore's office and warn him. Harry left straight away. He walked up a couple stairs and through a few corridors. When he reached the familiar statue that guarded the entrance to the headmaster's office, Harry stopped.

"Erm…" Madam Pomfrey hadn't given him the password. He'd have to guess, as usual. "Er… Cockroach Clusters? Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans? Uhm… Ton Tongue Toffee, Chocolate Frogs, Butterbeer, Skiving Snackboxes, Canary…" The gargoyle sprang aside and Harry stopped. "Skiving Snackboxes? I'm definitely telling Fred and George about that," he muttered to himself as he stood on the escalator-like staircase. A large, brass door came into view and Harry stepped off of the staircase to knock. Dumbledore opened the door to let him in. But before he could say anything Harry plunged straight into the story about Dobby and Neville. He purposely left out that he was asleep in the common room; otherwise Dumbledore might ask what he had been doing there so early. When he finally finished, Dumbledore hurried off towards the infirmary, Harry followed.

"Harry, you'd better go down to the Great Hall and have some breakfast. I daresay this event will not allow you to sleep a bit longer," Dumbledore told him outside the hospital wing. Harry turned and left to have breakfast, though he was reluctant. "Have you found anything yet, Poppy?" He heard Dumbledore ask as soon as he entered the hospital wing. Harry changed into his clothes first and then entered the Great Hall, seeing only a few other people having breakfast. An hour later Ron, Hermione and Nora joined him.

"How come you're up so early?" Ron demanded, "And where's Neville? His bed's empty and I can't see him here anywhere," he added looking around. Harry told him the story about Dobby waking him and showing him Neville.

"I wonder who did it?" Nora asked

"Maybe it was a Death Eater," Hermione offered, though she herself thought it was very unlikely.

"Or Voldemort," Harry said.

"Or maybe You-Know-Who is possessing someone, and making him do it," Ron said, somewhat too excitedly.

"You mean like he possessed Quirrell? With his face stuck onto the back of his head?" Nora asked him.

"Exactly. You know, Professor Spring acts just like Quirrell did, scared and dodgy."

"Well, yes, but that was only in the beginning. Besides, Ron, he doesn't wear a turban," Nora pointed out to him.

"Maybe he's hiding You-Know-Who's head somewhere else… you know… Spring has a rather large rear, maybe he's hiding him there…" Ron said thoughtfully, his three friends snorted.

"That'd be really painful for Voldemort whenever Spring sits down, though," Nora said laughing.

"Besides, Ron, since when do you look at the rears of older men?" inquired Harry suggestively. Ron made a face at the thought of it and then hit his friend on the arm for even daring to think such a thing.

* * *

At eleven thirty the Gryffindor Quidditch team made it's way down towards the pitch to do a few warm up laps. The Hufflepuff's were nowhere in sight. At eleven fifteen they went back into the changing rooms and heard students making there way into the seats on the stands.

"All right guys, time for a little pep-talk," Harry said, rubbing his hands. "Now, we've been practicing a lot the last few weeks and I really feel that we can beat Hufflepuff. You've all made tremendous progress, so, let's do our best and maybe we can even win the Quidditch cup!" Everyone cheered and they walked outside as Dean Thomas, who had been made commentator, called out their names.

"Captains, shake hands," Madam Hooch said. Harry and Justin Finch-Thingy shook hands, and when the whistle was blown all fourteen players rose into the air.

"And Gryffindor in possession of the Quaffle! Ginny Weasley passes to Mathew Charles, who passes it to Nora Glassyd, who passes it back to Weasley, who… SCORES! 10-0 for Gryffindor!" Harry smiled to himself while looking around for the snitch. On the other side of the pitch Rose Zeller was doing the same thing. His mind started to wonder, however. He thought about Neville, who was still in the Infirmary. "And Abbott makes her way down the pitch, closely followed by the two other Hufflepuff chasers, and she passes to Finch! Who shoots and… SCORES! It is now 10-10!" Harry looked down at the players and noticed that Ernie Mc… well… McThingy was heading for the Gryffindor goal again, but his shot was blocked, thanks to Ron's excellent keeping. "Gryffindor back in possession! Glassyd passes to Charles, who passes it right back to Glassyd, nice maneuvers there, you can see they've been practicing, and Glassyd goes for the goal, fakes a shot to the right and SCORES in the middle hoop! BRILLIANT! Score: 20-10, Gryffindor in the lead!" The Hufflepuffs moaned, but the Gryffindors were cheering too loudly for anyone to hear. Nora passed Harry and shouted:

"Watch the snitch, you moron!" Then she flew over to Hannah who had the Quaffle and was trying to score. Harry looked up to see Nora flying off. He was shocked: what was he thinking! After having mentally slapped himself he began to look for the snitch, luckily Rose hadn't found it either. After only a short while the Gryffindors had scored quite a few more times and the Hufflepuffs only once. "And a GREAT shot by Mathew Charles! Perfect! The score is now: 70-20!" Harry was glad his team was doing so well, he certainly had trained them well. Then he saw it: a glint of gold fluttering on the other side of the pitch. He immediately raced for it, Rose, noticing his behavior looked around and saw it too. Though she was closer, Harry had a faster broom, and he was getting nearer… nearer…

"And it looks like Potter has seen the snitch! He's going for it! Zeller now coming from the other side, it'll be a close call! Potter is closing in, Zeller hasn't got a chance! Maybe you should get a faster broom, HAHA!"

"Mr. Thomas!"

"Sorry, Professor," Dean told McGonagall, but he didn't sound sorry at all. "And Potter is closing in! Glassyd is using this as a perfect chance to shoot, and yes, she scores! 80-20 for Gryffindor. And what's this? Weasley is taking another shot too! And another score! Wow, that keeper really isn't paying much attention is he?" The Hufflepuff keeper indeed wasn't. Instead he was watching Rose who was fruitlessly trying to retrieve the snitch, even though Harry was very much in the lead. "Weasly SCORES! It is now 90-20, HAHA! Oh, sorry, no I can do this! Don't take the microphone, McGonagall. AND POTTER CAUGHT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS THE MATCH! FINAL SCORE: 240-20! HAHAH…" At that moment, McGonagall had finally gotten the microphone away from Dean. All the students were now making their way towards the Great Hall for a late lunch, while the two teams made their ways to their changing rooms.

"Great job team! We completely slaughtered those Hufflepuff's. Really, well done. Now, let's go and have some lunch," Harry said grinning, before leading the team to the Great Hall with Nora and Ron.

"Neville's still in the infirmary," Hermione told her three friends as soon as they sat down. "But he's awake. I think one of us should go and ask him what happened." Everyone looked at Harry.

"What? Why me? … All right, fine, but let me eat lunch first," he said grudgingly.

"But make it a quick one, otherwise you might not be the only one visiting him," Hermione said. Harry hurriedly ate his lunch and then went to see Neville.

"Hey, Harry! I wasn't expecting to see you this soon! How'd the Quidditch match go?" Neville asked him cheerfully as he entered.

"It was great, we totally crushed Hufflepuff!"

"Really? What was the final score?"

"240-20."

"Wow," Neville said in aw.

"So, what happened to you?" Harry tried to ask casually, "Why were you outside so early?"

"Well, I woke up because you were leaving the dormitory," Neville started awkwardly. "And then I was trying to get back to sleep, but after a while I felt a sudden urge to go downstairs, and out of Gryffindor tower. It felt like I forgot something but I really couldn't think of anything. I walked down the stairs into the common room and I saw you sleeping in on the sofa. I wanted to see if you were all right but I couldn't; something was making me walk outside. And then there was this man and he asked me to look for something…"

"Did he say what? Like a name, or something?"

"He called it an Amulet of… something. I don't remember exactly. There was a voice in my head saying 'Do it, tell him the password.' But I refused, I wanted to go back to bed, and then he got mad and after that everything went blurry." Harry thought for a minute, and then he quickly got up. "Where are you going?" Neville said, wishing more company.

"I have to go, I'm sorry, I have to finish my homework," he was about to go, but remembered something. "Could you please not tell anyone that I was in the common room that early?" He didn't want everyone to know that he was still having nightmares or that he was still painfully hurting about Sirius.

"Sure," Neville said. "I went through the same thing when… when my parents were sent to St. Mungo's." Harry nodded slightly, though he felt rather shocked. This was the first time that Neville had ever mentioned his parents after they had run into each other in St. Mungo's, when Sirius was still alive. Another wave of sadness. "Don't worry, you'll get over it… some day. I did too." Neville gave a weak smile, so did Harry

"Bye," he said hoarsely. Then he turned around to find his friends, who were waiting for him in the library.

"Find anything out?" Hermione asked him eagerly as soon as Harry had sat down next to her. He nodded. "What?"

"I think Neville was under the Imperius curse." He then told them the whole story. "And he said the man was looking for an Amulet of some kind." Hermione thought for a while.

"That's not enough information on the Amulet, but we might be able to look up a couple of famous and important Amulets and then show them to Neville, maybe he'll remember which one it was when we show him a list." The others agreed and they spent the rest of the day looking up different kinds of Amulets. When it was seven o'clock, they had finally finished and went straight to the hospital wing to show Neville. Unfortunately he didn't recognize any of the names, so the four gave up hope and tried to do some homework instead.


	12. December

**Chapter 12: December**

The days crept by and layers of snow were starting to cover the Hogwarts grounds. Neville had been released out of the hospital wing two days after being attacked. Madam Pomfrey had said that there had been no damage done, but that he needed to rest a bit. Two weeks before Christmas, notices about the next Hogsmeade trip had been put up.

"I can't wait to go to Hogsmeade, I need to buy so many things," Hermione told her friends as they walked towards the Great Hall for breakfast. It was Friday, and everyone was anxious for the weekend to start so that they could have snowball fights outside on the grounds. There had been a lot of blizzards and now that the weather had calmed down, outside looked absolutely charming: The lake was frozen, most of the snow was untouched, and the trees were covered in the white powder, except for the ones in the middle of the Forbidden Forest.

"I can't wait either, I really want to see the shop Fred and George opened," Ron joined in. "They told me that they've finished repainting the store and that everything is ready to be bought." An evil smile appeared on his face. "I can't wait."

"Uh-oh," Hermione said worriedly. "Everyone better get Ron's good side, before it's too late." There was no doubt Ron was going to find someone to play pranks on with the stuff he'd buy in Fred and George's shop. The four ate breakfast and then joined Dean, Seamus and Neville to go to Transfiguration.

"We will continue to practice turning worms into quills and leaves into parchment. You may start," Professor McGonagall instructed them. Everyone did as they were told and chatter broke out. Transfiguration was a good class to talk while you were practicing spells, so was Charms class.

"I'm gonna take all my money and spend it in the twins' shop," Ron told Harry excitedly.

"Me too," he agreed. "But I do need to get everyone presents, so I'll have to save a bit of money for that." Ron's smile faded.

"Oh yeah, I suppose I'd have to get mum and the rest presents too. Unless… do you think they'd believe I got mugged after I bought stuff from Fred and George?" he asked hopefully.

"I doubt it, they'd probably guess you spent all your money in there."

"I could try… no? Fine, I'll buy every one presents."

"Just think of it this way, Ron," Nora cut in, "When you buy everyone presents you're not really spending your money, 'cause you get presents back, maybe even stuff from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes."

"Really?" Ron's face lit up, he looked at Harry, who nodded. "Well in that case I'm buying everyone great presents so I get a lot of stuff."

"You do realize we're going to have to buy him everything from that store, so he's not too disappointed, don't you?" Hermione muttered to Nora.

"Yes… I actually didn't think he'd be this excited. Sometimes he's just like a child." They practiced turning worms and leaves into quills and parchment for the rest of class and then made their way to History of Magic. Hermione, of course, began scribbling notes as soon as Professor Binns began to talk about the Troll Massacre in 1742.

"There'll be a Hogwarts Massacre, if he keeps teaching like this," Ron muttered to Harry, who murmured his agreement. Nora looked outside, nothing to see there. She closed her eyes but after five seconds she snapped them open again, frantically looking through the window towards the Forbidden Forest. Nothing. Had she really seen it? Or was this incredibly dull lesson affecting her eyesight. She nudged Harry, who picked his head up off his desk and looked at her sleepily.

"Whazzit?"

"I dunno, but I thought I saw someone walking along the edge of the forest." She whispered.

"Wha'? Probably jus' Hagrid" he laid his head back on his desk. Nora shook him. "What?"

"I don't think it was Hagrid, Hagrid is a lot bigger than the man I saw."

"Well let me see." He leant over her to try and see the man.

"He's gone now, I only noticed I saw him when I had my eyes closed. But he was wearing a cloak and a hood, that I do know." Harry looked at Nora.

"You think it was a Death Eater?" he whispered, being suddenly very alert.

"I'm not sure, but he looked like one." The bell rang and they walked out of class, still whispering about the Death Eater. Hermione and Ron walked behind them confused.

"Will you two tell us what you're being so secretive about?" Hermione asked impatiently as they made their way to lunch. Nora told the other two what she saw.

"How could a Death Eater get in, though? Wouldn't he be spotted by someone?" Hermione asked thoughtfully.

"I dunno, but I'm pretty sure I saw him, the gray colors stood out very clearly against the white snow…" After lunch they had Potions and Care of Magical Creatures.

Nothing exiting happened during either lesson except that Draco had melted his cauldron by accident and he was too agitated, and somehow upset, to explain to Snape how it had happened. Nora gazed intently at the platinum-haired boy, searching him, wanting to catch his eye, but he never once looked at her and somehow she felt disappointed, and guilty. Ever since she'd told Draco that nothing would happen between them, ever, he'd ignored her and acted cruel and merciless towards everyone. After both lessons Hagrid held Harry back and said:

"I've been meanin' ter ask yeh, how'd yeh like yer birthday present?" Harry remembered the photo album he'd received and beamed.

"I loved it," he said honestly. "Thanks Hagrid. It was brilliant." Hagrid smiled, his beady eyes twinkling. He then sighed.

"Ah, they were great folk, yer parents. Sirius, too. Used to help me during me job as gamekeeper, they did." He sighed again. "Great folk. Terrible what happened to 'em." He seemed to be talking more to himself at this point but Harry felt sad, all the same. The four of them said goodbye to Hagrid and then went into the Great Hall for dinner.

"Well, Hagrid certainly was… emotional," Ron said as he piled mashed potatoes on his plate.

"Yes, it must've been terrible for him, too," agreed Hermione. "He knew them pretty well, didn't he? It certainly was awful though…" Harry said nothing. A pang of hurt and sorrow hit him now that he was forced to think of his parents and Godfather again. He got up from the table, said he wasn't hungry and ran out of the Great Hall to his dormitory, where he fell onto his bed, sobbing.

"Great going, Hermione," Ron said acidly. Hermione looked confused.

"What… Ooooh. Oh no, what have I done!" She felt horrible. "It's just… I didn't realize that it was still painful for him and that he minded when we talked about it."

"It's not your fault. I didn't realize either," Nora said.

"You know…" Ron said silently, "He still has nightmares about it all. I can hear him muttering in his sleep sometimes, or tossing and turning." The girls remained quiet and Hermione played with her food, not being able to eat anymore.

* * *

The next day it was finally weekend and Draco was walking around the Hogwarts grounds, alone. He couldn't hang out with Crabbe and Goyle because they were pigging out in the kitchens once again and since he had already had lunch an hour ago, he wasn't really that hungry. Pansy and Millicent were out of the question too, because, even though they were somewhat bearable at times, they were talking about girl stuff and didn't want him there, not that he even wanted to be there to hear them gossiping about boys. So now he was walking all alone in the snow, the snow crunching beneath his feet with every step he took. Suddenly he heard people laughing and shouting. He looked up and a bit ahead to the right were Harry, Hermione, Nora, Ron, Ginny, Seamus and Dean having a major snowball fight. For a minute Draco thought about joining, but then, looking at Potter and Weasley he decided it was better not to. Besides, he wanted nothing to do with them, especially not with… her. He began walking again, when all of a sudden he received a snowball square in the face.

"Hey! What the -?" He shouted angrily wiping the snow off his face, but when he saw Nora walking over to him his expression softened and his heart melted, no matter how hard he tried to scowl at her and act indifferent.

"Hi!" She said breathlessly. Her cheeks were rosy colored and her hair was tangled with snow. "You wanna join us?"

"Uhm… No, I don't think I should," he answered her, trying hard not to care and eyeing the four boys who were looking over at him, expressionlessly.

"Oh, come on, they won't mind," she said following his gaze, "Hermione and Ginny want you to join too, and the others, well, I don't really care what they think." Draco hesitated, but before he could say anything Nora had grabbed wrist and dragged him over to the others. As soon as they reached them the boys began pelting him with snowballs. The three girls took this as a challenge and made it guys vs. girls, with Draco on the female half, though that of course meant absolutely nothing… ahem.

They had a wonderful day, just throwing snowballs at each other. After a while they had grown tired though and as it wasn't time for dinner yet, they sat down on a blanket, which Hermione had brought along, and talked. Draco was actually quite enjoying himself and Nora thanked Merlin that the other boys noticed that he was actually quite nice, though to them he would always remain a Slytherin.

"Finally, time for dinner, I'm totally starving," Ginny grumbled, getting up. The others followed her example and the group walked over to the Great Hall, saying "Goodbye," to Draco as they walked over to the Gryffindor table.

"See? He's not as bad as you think," Nora told the boys, who just shrugged, clearly not wanting to agree with her on that subject.

* * *

Next Saturday was a Hogsmeade day and Ron was literally jumping up and down, telling the others to hurry up while they were walking towards the magical village.

"Ron, will you please calm down, you're acting like Colin Creevy," Harry told his best friend. Hermione and Nora sniggered while Ron slightly calmed down, looking very offended. But that didn't take very long

"I'll race you guys! Last one there has to spend the whole of tomorrow with Trelawny!" He shouted as he started running ahead. The others chuckled and looked at each other, then they sprinting after Ron. The four reached the entrance to Hogsmeade pretty much together, all out of breath.

"Thank god none of us has to spend the day with Trelawny," Hermione said, almost pleadingly, as they entered the village, mainly because she'd been last. They went around shopping for Christmas presents and finally they reached Fred and George's store. It was packed.

"Oi, Ron, over here!" George shouted, sighting the four.

"Wow, this place is loaded with stuff!" Ron exclaimed in aw, the others agreed.

"Yeah, we're making a big load of cash, especially around Christmas," Fred told them.

"Excuse me?" a very old man had made his way through the students and tapped George on the shoulder. The man was quite tall with very long silver hair. His beard grew passed his belt. He had half-moon spectacles and a glint in his eye that Harry knew all to well.

"May I help you, sir?" George asked him.

"Yes, I'm looking for something to give to my brother, it's been a long time since I've seen him, and I was looking for a… prank of some sort." George grinned.

"You'll love this." He grabbed a pair of gloves and showed them to the man. "These are Hand-Switchers. You give these to your brother, and the second he puts them on, his hands switch places. He'll have to get used to writing with his left arm, but right hand." The old man looked at them in aw.

"He'll love it, I'll take them," he said beaming, and he followed George to the cash register.

"Business is simply booming," Fred continued. "So, are you guys buying anything?"

"Are you kidding?" Ron told him "I'm spending most of my money here!"

"Yeah, me too," Harry agreed, the two girls nodded smiling. Ron talked to his two brothers a bit more, and Hermione and Nora took the chance to walk around the store and buy things for Ron, as they knew he was hoping to get a lot of prank items for Christmas, like they had told him he would. The four bought a ton of stuff and then said goodbye to the twins, who were beaming at all of the customers in their shop.

"So, should we go to the Three Broomsticks and warm up?" Nora asked her friends.

"Oh, well I already agreed with Parvati to meet her at Zonko's and go shopping with her," Harry said awkwardly, not looking at her.

"Er… and I agreed to meet up with Lavender," Ron said, staring at his shoes. Nora turned to Hermione hopefully, but saw the look on her face.

"I'm so sorry, but Terry asked me to shop for presents with him; he never knows what to buy."

"It's ok," Nora said trying to sound casual. Her friends all headed in different directions and she walked towards the Three Broomsticks all by herself, feeling horrible. '_I'm probably the only one without a date. I can't believe they didn't even tell me they had other plans, too. Maybe I can find Ginny._' But just then Ginny came walking by with Colin Creevy. '_Figures._' She walked into the cozy bar by herself and went over to the counter to order a Butterbeer. Madam Rosmerta smiled at her sweetly as she gave Nora her drink and then walked off to help other costumers. The place was decorated with three large Christmas trees, and fairies were fluttering above people's heads, weaving in and out of the Gold and Silver banners that were hung up. Nora sat down at a table by the window and saw Dean walk in, by himself. '_Just as long as he doesn't come over here and brag about Crystal-Rose… or come over at all,_' she thought, filled with hate, anger but most of all sadness. Unfortunately Dean did walk over to her, clutching a Butterbeer tightly in his right hand, not looking her straight in the eyes.

"Hi, mind if I join you?" he asked her quietly. '_Yes._'

"No, go ahead."

"Are you still mad at me?" '_Yes_.'

"No, of course not."

"Are you sure?" '_No._'

"Of course I'm sure."

"Ok then," he looked outside. '_Stupid prick_.'

"So… I found Crystal snogging a seventh year Slytherin yesterday." '_Serves you right._'

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Are you really?" '_No._'

"Yes." Dean looked Nora straight in the eyes. His were filled full of pain and regret, and all of a sudden she did feel sorry for him. It's not as if _he_ had cheated on _her_. At least he'd had the decency to tell her that he liked someone else, and wanted to see if it would work out between him and Crystal. Her iciness immediately disappeared and she rubbed his arm, which was lying on the table.

"I'm really sorry, you didn't deserve that at all," she told him.

"At least now I can hear that you mean it. I'm so sorry if I ever hurt your feelings… But… I noticed only a few days after I broke up with you that I had made the wrong decision. I just didn't think you'd want me back anymore. After I had dumped you for that… thing." Nora laughed and kissed his cheek. Dean looked her in the eyes and leant forward. He planted his lips on hers and gave her a passionate kiss, which she returned. They broke apart, grabbed their Butterbeers and hurried outside, walking up the street. Dean put his arm around Nora's waist and she did the same thing, with a smile on her face. They ran into Colin Creevey a bit later, Ginny was nowhere in sight, and he insisted on taking a picture.

* * *

"Excuse me… Silence please…" said Dumbeldore, who was standing up and was waiting for everyone to turn silent, shushing them with his hands, which seemed to be on the wrong arms. "Now, before we start dinner, I have a little announcement to make. I am pleased to say that my brother, Aberforth, has finally decided to pay visit me and will be staying at Hogwarts during the vacation." Dumbledore beckoned to someone standing in the doorway, and the old man the Gryffindor four had seen in Fred and George's store, walked forward. Every one started clapping. "Now, dig in!" Dumbledore added, then he began chatting merrily with his brother, trying to hold his knife and fork steady with his switched hands.

"They certainly do look a lot like each other," Hermione said.

"Yeah," Dean agreed, who was sitting next to Nora and holding her hand. "I wonder if they're gonna use that to fool and confuse all of us students. Fred and George used to do it all the time,"

"I know. They'd pretend they were the other and confuse you completely," Ron told them. "They still do that, actually," he added thoughtfully.

After dinner they went upstairs. "Oh, wait, Harry, before I forget, mum wrote a letter and said that I was to invite you to come over during Christmas break, you two too," he added looking at Nora and Hermione. Harry smiled and was glad he would be going to the Burrow for Christmas. Nora kissed Dean goodbye and walked with Hermione to their common room.

"I can't wait till Christmas. I really want to see the Burrow again," Nora said to her friend, who was looking worried. "Wait, what's wrong?"

"Well, I don't think we're going to the Burrow, that's not safe for Harry."

"You mean we're gonna go to Sirius' house? But that would kill Harry!"

"I know." They walked into their common room, and found Terry and Draco sitting there talking, the two girls joined them, but they remained worried and kept getting lost in their own thoughts.


	13. The Noble and Most Ancient House of Blac...

_A/N_: Sorry for the long wait, I hope you like my story so far…

**Chapter 13: The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, again**

_Neville was on the floor screaming._

_"Now, Potter, either give us the prophecy, or watch your little friend die the hard way!" Bellatrix said in her cold cruel voice. Harry didn't have to think; there was no choice fore him. He held out his hand in which the prophecy the Death Eaters wanted so badly was held. Malfoy jumped forwards to take it. Then, high above them, two doors burst open and five more people sprinted into the room: Sirius, Lupin, Moody, Tonks and Kingsley. The rest happened rather quickly: The members from the Order started shooting spells at the Death Eaters, who had a few spells thrown around the room already. As the people fought Harry and Neville, who had a nosebleed, were trying to leave the room. Just then Neville was hit with a Jelly-Legs spell. Harry tried to help his friend up the stairs, but had a very hard time._

_"Come on!" Said Harry desperately, hauling at Neville's robes. "Just try and push with your legs" He gave another stupendous heave and Neville's robes tore along the left seam – the small spun-glass ball dropped from his pocket and, before either of them could catch it, one of Neville's floundering feet kicked it, causing the prophecy to fly some ten feet to their right and smash on the step beneath them. As both of them stared at the place where it had broken, appalled at what had happened, a pearly white figure with hugely magnified eyes rose into the air, unnoticed by any but them. The two boys could see it's mouth moving, but in all the crashes and screams and yells surrounding them, not one word of the prophecy could be heard. The figure stopped speaking and dissolved into nothingness._

_"Harry, I'b sorry!" cried Neville, his face anguished as his legs continued to flounder. "I'b so sorry, Harry, I didn'd bean do."_

_"It doesn't matter!" Harry shouted. "Just try and stand, let's get out of…"_

_"Dubbledore!" Said Neville, his sweaty face suddenly transported, staring over Harry's shoulder._

_"What?"_

_"DUBBLEDORE!" Harry turned to look where Neville was staring. Directly above them, framed in the doorway from the Brain Room stood Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious. Harry felt a kind of electric charge surge through every particle of his body – they were saved. Dumbledore went into the battle and was already at the foot of the steps when the Death Eaters nearest realized he was there and yelled to the others. One of the Death Eaters ran for it, scrabbling like a monkey up the stone steps opposite. Dumbledore's spell pulled him back as easily and effortlessly as though he had him hooked with an invisible line –_

_Only one pair was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: he was laughing at her._

_"Come on, you can do better than that!" He yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room. The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest. The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened with shock. Harry released Neville, though he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the steps again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore, too, turned towards the dais._

_It seemed to take Sirius ages to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch. Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind, then fell back into place._

_Harry heard Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream, but thought it meant nothing – Sirius had only just fallen through the archway, he would reappear from the other side any second…_

_But Sirius did not reappear._

_"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled. "SIRIUS!" He had reached the floor, his breath coming in searing gasps. Sirius must be just behind the curtain, he Harry would pull him back out... but just as he reached the ground and sprinted towards the dais, Lupin grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back._

_"There's nothing you can do, Harry."_

_"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"_

_"It's too late, Harry."_

_"We can still reach him" Harry struggled hard and vicious, but Lupin would not let go…_

_"There's nothing you can do, Harry…nothing… he's gone… gone… gone."_

* * *

That last word echoed through Harry's head as he sat bolt upright, his body covered in sweat. Tears were leaking out of his eyes and he put his hands over his face, as he sobbed into them. '_He's gone forever, you might as well get over it,_' a little nagging voice in the back of his head said. '_SHUT UP! He's not gone!_' '_You know I don't believe that, and neither do you, stop fooling yourself, he's gone…"_ That word started echoing again and Harry sobbed even more. He knew the little voice was right, but he would not admit it. He lay back down and cried himself to sleep.

* * *

(_A/N_: You all do realize that I did not write that dream myself, I got it from the 5th book, though I made a few slight changes.)

* * *

"Hey, Ron. Where's Harry?" Hermione asked cheerfully, as Ron walked over to her and Nora.

"Still asleep," he replied glumly, sitting down at the Gryffindor table. Hermione looked puzzled.

"Why didn't you wake him up?" Ron leaned forward, and Hermione and Nora did the same thing.

"Last night at about two in the morning, I was woken up by him screaming: 'Sirius'. A while after he stopped screaming I think he woke up, 'cause he'd stopped thrashing around, but then I heard him crying."

"What? Poor thing," Hermione cut in. Ron glared at her.

"Anyway… he sobbed for a bit and then it got worse. After another while he calmed down a little and about an hour later I fell asleep, and he was still crying," Ron finished and Hermione immediately began interrogating him. Nora however got up slowly from the table and made her way into the Entrance Hall, neither of her friends noticed she had left. Nora turned right and made her way to the Gryffindor Common room. It was almost completely empty as most people were either still asleep or having breakfast. She made her way to the Boys' dormitories, ignoring the glances from the few Gryffindor's that were there, and climbed up the staircase. Reaching the door to the '6th years' as the sign read, she opened it a bit to see if anyone else was in there besides Harry. It was empty, except for her friend, who was lying on his stomach, with his sheets on the floor. Nora knelt beside him, laid the sheets back on top of him and put her hand on his back.

Harry woke up and heard the door to his dormitory close; someone had just entered. He hoped it wasn't Ron coming to wake him up; he really didn't want his best friend to see him like this. He had cried all night, and probably looked awful. The person knelt beside his bed, picked up his bed sheets and he felt a hand on his back. It was very comforting, and just as he was wondering who the person was, a sweet smell of raspberries and fruits entered his nose and he immediately knew who it was: Nora. He didn't want to open his eyes. He wanted to stay like this, though he felt embarrassed, too. The hand kept rubbing his back, and even though it felt really comforting and nice, he decided to open his eyes, to show that he was awake. He opened them and looked into Nora's dark brown eyes. She smiled weakly.

"Hi, are you all right?"

"I guess," he replied hoarsely. "How'd you know?"

"Ron told us he heard you crying…" She blushed a little and decided to look outside.

"I had a another… nightmare."

"I know, Ron said you shouted out Sirius, at one point, and that you kept muttering the word 'gone' for a while, before you woke up. Was it about the veil?" Harry nodded. A tear escaped from his eye. "Look, Harry," Nora had turned her gaze to him again, and he could see the seriousness in her eyes.

"I'm not going to Dumbledore, if that's what you're going to say," he said, feeling slightly angry. It was usually Hermione and Ron's advice: 'Go to Dumbledore; tell him about your dream. Tell him what's troubling you'. Nora shook her head, and he felt a bit relieved.

"That's not what I was going to say. I was going to tell you that you're not the only one going through this, you know." Harry looked a bit confused. "We're all going through this too, me and Ron… and Hermione even more. You should've remembered that she lost her mother a while ago, and that her father is momentarily in jail." Harry looked horrified. He was so busy with himself that he hadn't even had time to comfort Hermione. "Don't worry, she's not mad at you, I just wanted to let you know, that if you need some one to talk to, she's the one to go to, she'll probably feel the same as you." Harry nodded and angrily wiped away his ears.

"Thanks." He then got up, and Nora left the room to let him get dressed. After he came out, the two made their way to the Great Hall, where Ron and Hermione were undoubtedly waiting, a bit crossly, for them.

"Where were you? We were talking and suddenly I realized you'd sneaked off! We were dead worried!" Ron was telling Nora. He didn't even notice that Harry was with her.

"What do you mean? It's Hogwarts, not the Forbidden Forest! Have you even noticed that Harry is here with me?" Ron snapped his head up.

"Harry! Good to see you, mate! Sit down, have some breakfast." He rushed Harry over to a seat next to him. While the two boys ate she told Hermione everything that happened and that Harry would probably try to talk to her sometime today. Hermione nodded and the two sat across from Harry and Ron. After breakfast the four walked out into the Entrance Hall, Harry and Hermione were walking outside. Ron made to follow them, but Nora grabbed him by the back of his robes and dragged her struggling friend to the library.

"What are you doing? I want to go outside too! I hate being in the library; it means I have to do homework! Ouch!" He yelled as Nora pushed him into a chair between two large racks that were filled to the ceiling with books.

"Harry and Hermione need to talk. And if we do homework today, you won't have to do anything tomorrow, when Hermione and Harry do." A glint came into Ron's eye and he immediately grabbed his books and began writing the assigned essay for transfiguration.

After Ron had finished all of his homework he left Nora behind in the library and went to the Great Hall for lunch. Nora struggled to finish her potions essay and when she was finally done she slammed the book closed, cursing Snape's parents for bringing the greasy git into this world. She left the library, still muttering angrily to herself, to go to her common room and drop off her schoolbooks. Along the way she saw Harry and Parvati snogging in the middle of a corridor.

"I can see you're feeling a bit better," she muttered as she made her way passed them. Harry turned his head around to grin at his friend's back, before Parvati demanded his attention again.

Nora dropped her books off and just as she was going to leave, Terry came up to her and handed her a list.

"What's this?" she asked looking at the piece of parchment.

"Chores. McGonagall gave all of the Heads and prefects chores to do in the castle. Kind of like spring-cleaning in the winter. The prefects didn't get much to do, but it's like we have to clean the whole castle. Every single one of the Heads got about a hundred chores to do. Better get started, or you'll be busy 'til midnight," he replied,

"But, wait, aren't the house elves supposed to do this kind of stuff?"

"I thought so, too, but McGonagall said we just have to check up on things, and the house elves have to prepare the evening meal now. Personally, I think she was lying. But you'd better get started, or you'll be busy 'til midnight," he repeated. Nora groaned as she looked down the list again. This really was going to take her until midnight.

She decided to get started and walked out of her common room to do the first chore: Re-label the bottles of ingredients in the Infirmary properly. Madam Pomfrey welcomed her warmly and Nora walked to the cupboard where the ingredients were stored. After half an hour she walked out of the Hospital Wing to go to all of the Girls' Bathrooms and check if everything was all right there. 'If not, go see Filch.' The list said. Along the way she met Hermione, who was heading for the dungeons in a very bad mood indeed and on the third floor she nearly walked into Draco, who didn't even bother to apologize and walked straight towards the Astronomy Tower without a second glance at her. At ten fifteen Nora entered the Gryffindor common room, to do her last chore: Check the Gryffindor common room and dormitories of both the Girls and the Boys, feeling very relieved she was almost finished. Nora walked up the stairs and checked everything. At half past ten she walked back down and found Dean, Seamus and Ron sitting by the fireplace. She dragged herself over to them, exhausted, and fell onto the sofa between Dean and Ron. After having said 'Hello' to her, they continued talking and slowly she fell asleep.

"So, you're saying that You-Know-Who is being hidden by someone, like Quirrell did?" Seamus asked Ron, who nodded vigorously.

"Yup."

"But no one's wearing a turban," Dean pointed out.

"Well, no," Ron said, and then launched into his theory of Voldemort being hidden by Professor Spring, which was why his rear was so oversized. The other two laughed.

"So, you're saying that Professor Spring is hiding Voldemort on his ars?" Seamus asked Ron, who was nodding his head again, as if he was trying to get it to fly off.

"But wouldn't you hear an 'Ouch' every time Spring sat down?" Dean offered.

"I dunno, maybe he's extremely well in Silencing charms," Ron said, shrugging. His friends shook their heads in hilarity, laughing in amusement. They talked a bit more until Seamus asked what time it was.

"Quarter to twelve, why?" Ron answered.

"We'd better go to bed, one of us is already asleep, and otherwise we'll wake up way too late tomorrow," Seamus replied, the others agreed. Nora was still asleep. Dean picked her up and then stood still.

"What?" Ron asked him

"Do any of you know the password to the Heads' and Prefects' common room?"

"Er… no."

"Then how am I supposed to put her into her bed?"

"Uhm… she could sleep in your bed? It's big enough for two people isn't it?" Seamus told him. Ron frowned at the suggestion, not liking the thought of one of his best friends in bed with a boy.

"I suppose, but if she wakes up yelling, I'll tell her it's your fault." Seamus nodded his approval and the three made their way towards the boys' dormitories, receiving a few weird glances from the few people that were still left in the common room. To them it obviously looked very… erm… odd: three boys carrying a girl to their dormitory. Ron opened the door to their room and the three walked in. Neville was already asleep, so was Harry, and to their surprise so was Parvati, who was kneeling beside his bed. Seamus and Ron changed into their pj's as Dean put Nora under the covers of his bed before lying on top of them beside her. He kissed her forehead and put his arms around her. The room was soon filled with snores.

When Nora woke up, she smiled at Dean, who still had his arms wrapped around her protectively. Looking around the room, she noticed that Ron, Seamus and Neville were already downstairs, and that Harry and Parvati were still asleep. Nora gave Dean a soft and tender kiss on the lips, causing him to wake up. He smiled.

"You're not mad at me, for putting you in my bed?" he whispered, Nora smiled even more.

"Of course not." She yawned widely, feeling very rested.

"It was Seamus' idea, just so you know." She laughed.

"I'm not mad, don't worry. I think it's very thoughtful." Dean leant forward and put his lips gently on hers. They were soon snogging.

"Ahem…" The two broke apart and looked up at the person who spoke, hoping so very much it wasn't McGonagall, who would almost certainly explode. It was Harry, looking at them with his eyebrows raised. "Are you planning to eat at all? If you are, you can walk with us." Dean nodded and the two followed Harry and Parvati, who were holding hands, downstairs to have lunch, as they had slept through breakfast.

* * *

The days flew by, and before they knew it, it was Saturday, and everyone who was spending Christmas at home got on the Hogwarts Express. The ride was long and eventless. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Nora, Ginny, Seamus, Dean, Neville, Parvati and Lavender had all squished into one of the compartments, some sitting on the others' laps, and were talking merrily. After a while the boys were playing exploding snap, and Nora, Ginny, Parvati and Lavender were talking about the gifts they had gotten for their families. Hermione had decided she would rather read a book than talk about gifts, and was engrossed once again in _Hogwarts: A History_. Gradually it grew darker, and after a while everyone took off their Hogwarts robes. When the train had halted, they walked out onto the platform, where they said goodbye to each other. Harry, Ron and Dean were busy snogging Parvati, Lavender and Nora until Ginny said:

"Can you guys do that _and _walk, 'cause everyone's waiting." She looked slightly annoyed and the three couples broke apart at once. When they left platform 9 ¾ and walked out of the busy station, every one was greeted by their family. Dean and Seamus left together with Seamus' mum, Neville left with his Grandmother and Parvati and Lavender left with Parvati's parents. Mrs. Weasley led the remaining children to a car that belonged to the Ministry of Magic. It was charmed so that every one was able to fit in nicely, and after their trunks were put in too, the driver took them away. Hermione and Nora looked at each other nervously. They hadn't told Harry they were going to Sirius' house.

"What's wrong? Why are you two looking so worried?" Ron asked after a while, sick of their glances at each other.

"What? Oh, nothing," Hermione replied quickly. Ron didn't trust her answer but decided to let it go. After an hour or so the car stopped.

"That was fast? Are we already at your house Ron?" Harry asked his friend as they all got out. He turned to look at the Burrow, but found himself standing in front of Black Manor. He stopped dead in his tracks, causing everyone behind him to bump into each other. Mrs. Weasley led Harry towards the house.

"Now, dear, I know you'd rather not be here, but there is no choice. It's safer for us here." Harry looked at the house and he immediately welled up. Looking around the outside of the manor he noticed a golden sign above the doorframe that read: '**The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.'** He rubbed his eyes, trying to wipe them dry. As the whole group walked inside, Harry noticed the familiar entrance hall, with the curtain over the painting of Sirius' horrible mother.

"Is Kreacher still here?" he managed to ask, his anger rising at the thought of the evil and deranged house elf.

"Yes, I'm afraid he is." Mrs. Weasley told him sorrowful. When the entire group was inside, she closed the door and told them to put their trunks upstairs and then to come back down for dinner.

* * *

_A/N_: Hope you like this chapter. 


	14. Sirius' Testament

**Chapter 14: Sirius' Testament**

The group walked up the staircase, hauling their trunks along, and went into the bedrooms they had slept in last Christmas. Nora, Hermione and Ginny walked into theirs and looked around. It was still exactly the same as they had left it. The room was large enough to fit three beds, which were all placed with the headboards against one wall. Ginny immediately sat on the bed that was in a corner and looked at her trunk that was sitting in the doorway. She sighed, got up and dragged it over to the end of her bed. Across from their beds was a large closet that could fit all of the girls' clothes. Each bed had a night table with a beautiful white lamp with light blue stripes on it. The lamps were hexed so that the only person who could see the light was the person that wanted to see it. This was done so that if one of the girls wanted to read a little, the light wouldn't bother the others when they wanted to sleep. There was a large window across from the door. It had yellowish orange curtains and on the windowsill were two potted plants. Nora put her empty birdcage down.

"Where's Siberia?" Ginny asked looking at the cage.

"She's off, delivering a letter to my parents. I just wanted to let them know that we were going to spend our Christmas here. But, now you mention it, she is taking a bit longer than I excpected." After they had all put their trunks away, they went downstairs to help Mrs. Weasley with dinner.

* * *

Harry and Ron entered their room and put their trunks at the foot of their beds. The room was quite large, though smaller than Hermione, Nora and Ginny's. There was a bed at each side of the door, and across from it was a closet. On the left side of the room was a large window with blue curtains. The two boys hung up their clothes in the closet. After he finished Harry let himself fall, face down, onto his bed. Ron decided to go downstairs and leave him alone.

"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked as soon as Ron came downstairs.

"In our bedroom, he just plopped onto his bed. I thought it was better to leave him alone." Mrs. Weasley bustled over and sighed.

"That poor darling. Only sixteen, and already his life is full of death and loss." She sighed again. "Let's just leave him for now, and when dinner's ready one of you can call him. It will be his decision if he wants to come down or not." She walked away, with yet another sigh, and went back to cooking dinner. When the food was nearly ready, a loud voice filled the whole kitchen.

"FILTHY SCUM! INTRUDING IN MY HOUSE! THAT GOOD FOR NOTHING SON, JUST LETTING YOU PEOPLE IN HERE!"

"Merlin, woman! Shut up!" It was Lupin. Mrs. Weasley hurried out of the kitchen to help him get the curtain back in front of the portrait of Sirius' mother. After a few minutes the wailing stopped and Mrs. Weasley entered the kitchen again, with Lupin and Tonks behind her.

"Sorry. Tripped over that stand again," Tonks muttered apologetically. Her hair was purple this time and reached her shoulders. She'd made her eyes a shocking blue.

"That's quite all right, dear," Mrs. Weasley told her. She waved her wand and a few cupboard doors opened. With another wave plates, forks, knives and cups flew out of them and landed on the table. "Now, one of you go call Harry. See if he wants to have some dinner."

"I'll go," Ron said, and he walked into the hall and up the stairs. The rest sat down, waiting for Ron to return, hopefully with Harry, so that they could pile their plates with all of the delicious food that Mrs. Weasley had cooked.

"So, who's your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Lupin asked with a little smile. He was looking a bit worn out. His robes were dirty and ragged. The others couldn't help but wonder if it had just been the full moon.

"Professor Spring," Hermione replied.

"Really? What's he like?"

"Well he's all right. At first he was a bit like Quirrell, stammering and stuff," Ginny said, "But he's adjusted now, and he's not so scared anymore."

"I see. And… is he a good teacher?"

"Yeah, we learn loads of spells," Nora told him.

"Oh," Lupin looked at the table. They all laughed.

"But you're still the best teacher we've ever had for Defense Against the Dark Arts," Hermione assured him. Lupin looked up again, and smiled warmly.

"That's all I wanted to hear." Ron entered the kitchen and every one looked around to see if Harry had come down too. Ron shook his head.

"I called through the door that dinner was ready, but he didn't say anything. After a while I just gave up," he said as he sat down next to Ginny. Slowly everyone piled their plates. Lupin began to interrogate them about Professor Spring once more and of course Ron launched into his ridiculous theory of Voldemort's face on their Professor's rear end. Lupin chuckled, and Tonks nearly fell out of her seat laughing. Mrs. Weasley, though, scowled.

"Ronald Weasley! It's vulgar to say such things about your teachers in such manner!" Every one quickly stopped laughing and Ron looked at his food, his ears turning a dark, dark red.

* * *

"That was a brilliant dinner, Molly. You're a fabulous cook," Lupin told Mrs. Weasley after dinner as she started taking empty dishes off the table.

"Do the pig snout again!" Ginny said loudly. Tonks, who was smiling at the kids around her, turned her current nose into a pig snout, getting giggles out of Ginny and Hermione.

"Turn your hair pink with purple spots!" Hermione shouted. Tonks did as she asked and looked quite absurd. She now had the things the four kids requested: Ginny's pig snout, Hermione's pink and purple hair, Ron's red eyes and Nora's big ears. Mrs. Weasley smiled at them while putting a large treacle tart on the table.

"Eat, children," she said and everyone immediately grabbed some, eating very messily. After dinner they went upstairs.

"Ron, could you check on Harry?" Hermione said, looking a bit worried. Ron did as he was told and walked down the corridor that led to his and Harry's room. After a couple of minutes he returned, running.

"He's gone," he said, in between loud gasps for breath.

"What?" Ginny asked shocked.

"He's gone, his bed was empty and he wasn't in the room."

"Come on, Hermione." Nora said, grabbing her best friends arm.

"Where are you two going?" Ron asked.

"I know where Harry is, but it's best if only we go. You two just stay here and wait until we return." And she walked off dragging Hermione along with her.

"Are we going to Buckbeak's room?" Hermione asked.

"Yes. That's where he hid last year. When he thought that he was Voldemort's weapon." They walked up a few stairs, and then both stopped. Hermione knocked on the door that led to the Hippogriff's room. There was no answer. She looked at Nora questioningly.

"What now?"

"Now we walk in and scold Harry."

"What if he's not there?"

"Then we warn Mrs. Weasley." Hermione nodded and opened the door. The room was completely dark. The curtains were closed and all they could see were the few shapes of the furniture that was in there. Nora found the light switch and turned the light on. The sudden light blinded them for a few moments, but once their eyes were used to it they looked around the room and found Harry sitting in a corner. Buckbeak was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Buckbeak?" Nora whispered to Hermione.

"I think Dumbledore released him into the wild. The ministry's no longer looking for him, and there's no one in the house to take care of him, except for Kreacher, but… well… he probably wouldn't take care of Buckbeak very well. Do you think Harry's awake?"

"I'm not sure, let's go check." The two girls walked over to the limp figure in the corner of the room. "He's still breathing, that's good." Hermione shook him slightly.

"Whazzit?" Harry asked, still half asleep.

"Harry, wake up."

"What?"

"Wake up!" He was fully awake now, after Hermione had yelled right in his ear.

"Ouch! What are you two doing here?" he asked rudely, wishing they would all just leave him alone for once.

"Harry, we need to talk," he looked at Nora; her eyes were full of grief and concern.

"Why?"

"Because, we're worried about you." He turned his head towards Hermione; she looked as if she was on the verge of tears.

"I don't want too. Sirius is dead. I have no one who will take care of me left. And if I did, Voldemort would probably kill him or her off too."

"Harry, that's not true. You have us." Nora heard him mutter something like, "As if that helps," and felt a bit hurt.

"Snap out of it," Hermione shot at him. She too had heard his muttering and was becoming enraged. "You may have a point, that Sirius is dead, but you do have a guardian! You have tons! But you're just not trying to see who they are!"

"Oh yeah? And who are they? Moody? Lupin? Other people from the Order?" he said sarcastically. "They're just body guards! They don't care about me!"

"That's not true!" Nora exclaimed. He turned to look at her. "They do care! And you're forgetting about us! What about Mrs. Weasley? She sees you as her son, she cares for you. She knits you a Weasley sweater every Christmas." Harry stayed silent. It was true. Mrs. Weasley did knit him a sweater every year. She did care for him, and she did see him as one of her sons. He smiled a bit at those bone-crushing hugs she always gave him when he'd been in life-threatening danger.

"See?" Hermione said. "Look, let's go downstairs. Ginny and Ron are still waiting for us." The two girls pulled Harry up off the ground and led him towards the corridor where Ginny and Ron were indeed waiting for him. They quickly stood up, having sat down on the floor to wait, and walked over to Harry. After reassuring them that he was all right, the five walked downstairs to sit in a large living room and talk.

At ten o'clock they heard a tapping on the window. Ginny went over to the noise and opened the curtains. On the window sill outside was a snowy white owl, with a large envelope in its beak and a letter tied to its leg.

"Siberia!" She exclaimed letting the owl inside before closing the window and curtains again. Nora had gotten up at hearing her owl's name and held out her arm for the owl to hop on to. The two girls sat back down.

"Let's see…" Nora said, taking the envelope and parchment from Siberia. She hooted dolefully and sat on her owner's knee. Nora opened the piece of parchment first.

_Dear Nora,_

_Hi, honey. We have received your letter saying you're staying at Sirius' old house and hope you'll have a nice time there. We also wanted to tell Harry that we are very sorry for his loss. Sirius was a good friend of ours, and we know that the last few months must have been very rough on him._

_You may have been wondering what took Siberia so long. When we received your letter, Dumbledore was at our house, and he had something to give to Harry. That is what the large envelope holds inside. It's Sirius' Testament along with a letter he wrote for Harry. We trust you to give it to him._

_Have a nice vacation, dear. Miss you._

_Love,_

_Mom and Dad_

"What's it say?" Ginny asked.

"It's from my parents. Here, Harry." Nora handed over the parchment, thinking he had to read that first, before opening the envelope. Harry read the letter, and nodded. Nora handed him the envelope.

_Ministry of Magic: Wills and Testaments_

_Testament of Sirius Black_

_To: Harry James Potter_

_Firstly we would like to give you our condolences: we are very sorry for your loss. Sirius Black has left you the following possessions:_

_Potter Manor_

_A sum of 330,000 Galleons from his vault: number 711_

_A sum of 478,000 Galleons from the Potter's vault: number 742_

_A Flying Motorcycle_

_Black Manor will be given to Dumbledore for the Order of the Phoenix_

_We hope you will be happy with these possessions and again, our condolences._

_Sincerely,_

_Dallis Morchwalk_

_Ministry of Magic: Wills and Testaments_

Harry looked at Sirius' Testament. So all that money was now his. So was Potter Manor, though he didn't know what that was. Maybe his parent's house. He also received Sirius' flying motorcycle. That ought to be fun to ride. Harry looked inside the envelope and found Sirius' letter to him. His hands were trembling.

_Dear Harry,_

_When you read this, I am most likely dead. I had the chance to write this letter as I was inside Black Manor through the whole year. The loneliness was getting to my head and I knew that one of those days I was going to do something stupid. I gave this to Dumbledore and asked him to give it to you when I had indeed passed on. He agreed._

_You will probably have read my Will already and seen the list. You are indeed getting everything on there. Your Parents house, which is located a bit from London, our money and my flying motorcycle. I also asked Dumbledore to put my money in Lily and James' vault, along with your other money, when I was gone. This would make it easier for you. That is also the reason why you are getting this letter late: The transferring of my money, along with yours, into your parent's vault cost Dumbledore quite some paperwork and would be finished about half a year after my death._

_Another thing I need to write about. When I am dead, do not dwell on it for too long. It is probably caused by my own stupid actions, and it is definitely not your fault. Do not neglect your friends and family. Yes, your family, Harry. You still have one: the Weasley's. And as there are nine of them it will take a while before they are all gone._

Harry, who had started crying because Sirius was addressing him like he wasn't dead at all, snorted. His Godfather had not so subtly been indicating to Voldemort, who seemed to be killing all of Harry's loved ones, trying to get rid of the Weasley's.

_So…take good care of your family and friends. And do not dwell on my death for too long; it will only give Voldemort what he wants and that will make him even stronger._

_You will have to ask Dumbledore permission to see Potter Manor, as I'm sure you want to visit it soon. It comes with a few house elves as well as a pure blood (house) elf: Zacharias Reland. He is quite nice and has served your family his whole life._

_I love you,_

_Sirius_

Harry wiped away his tears and handed Sirius' letter to his friends. After they had read it too, the whole room was silent. Until the door opened. The group looked around and saw Kreacher standing there, laughing cheekily at them. Everyone immediately shot up and began running after the beast, which gave a yelp and started running away. They chased him through the house trying to catch him. Even Hermione was sprinting after him. All of a sudden Mrs. Weasley stood before them and they had to halt, bumping into each other and falling to the floor.

"As much as I loathe that house elf, I cannot have all of you running about through the house. It is time for bed, now go." She walked off, and Harry, Ron, Hermione, Nora and Ginny made their ways to their rooms.

"I hate that house elf," Ron grumbled as he and Harry started undressing.

"I hate Kreacher, he is sooo creepy," Ginny said, shivering at the thought of him.

"Yeah, me too. And the nerve of him… to just laugh like that in Harry's face!" Hermione chimed in, looking furious. They talked for a while about the house elf, and then fell asleep.

* * *

The three girls were woken the next morning by loud banging noises. The girls walked out of their rooms in their pajamas to see what the noise was. The three of them were about to walk down the stairs when they had to dive out of the way as something red came tearing at them.

"RON! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Hermione called from the floor. Ron bounded up the steps with Harry and stopped in front of the girls, who were struggling to stand up.

"Hey guys!" Harry said, rosy cheeked; he had obviously run up and down the stairs with Ron.

"What… were… you… doing?" Hermione asked them.

"Well, we were running up and down the steps," Ron answered shrewdly. Hermione snarled in frustration.

"Why?"

"Mum told us too."

"Why?" Ginny asked, looking at her older brother as if he was insane.

"Well, we went downstairs for breakfast and I asked mum where Kreacher was, 'cause we wanted to catch him. But mum was very busy and I think she was trying to get rid of us because she told us to go run up and down the stairs."

"Did she ask you to break it down in the process?" Nora asked.

"Not that I remember." The three girls sighed.

"Why didn't you just go do something else?" Hermione asked.

"We thought we'd go and annoy mum a bit, besides, there isn't anything else to do around here."

"Wait here while we go and get dressed." The girls entered their room again and a few seconds later crashing sounds could be heard again.

"God, they are just like little children. This would be more of a Fred and George thing than a Harry and Ron thing." Nora sighed. Ginny nodded in agreement.

The five made their way to the kitchen again where Mrs. Weasley was writing things down and muttering to herself.

"What's that?" Ginny asked, pointing at a piece of parchment. Her mom looked up startled and then quickly hid the things on the table.

"Oh, nothing dear, nothing, just some things for the Order." When everything was gone from the table, she added more calmly: "After you have had breakfast I thought you five would like clean up this house. It looks dreadful and a few well-chosen colors could fix the place right up. Of course, you'll be allowed to use magic. There are so many spells and enchantments on this house that no one will notice."

So after breakfast the five started painting the walls. They began with the hall first. In the beginning they had a hard time, but after a bit of practice it soon became real easy.

"HEY, Nora!" Harry yelled.

"What?" She asked, turning her head to look at him. SPLAT She received a jet of the light blue paint right in the face. "HARRY JAMES POTTER! You are so going to DIE!" and she began chasing after him with her wand pointed at him, ready to hit him with some pink colored paint. Harry stopped and faced her. Nora threw the paint at him, but he ducked and instead Ron got hit. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Ron! I didn't mean t- Hey!" Nora ducked as green colored paint made it's way from Ron's wand, hitting Ginny in the stomach. The rest of the hour was spent having paint fights, until Mrs. Weasley came in and ordered them to get back to painting the walls, instead of themselves.

At the end of the week the five had painted every room that would be used and the House looked a lot better than before. Mrs. Weasley came in to inspect the living room they had been working on.

"Very nice work, very well done indeed," she said beaming, walking along the walls. "Well that's it, you five are done painting now. I really appreciate it."

"Mum?" It was Ron.

"Yes, dear?"

"What happened to Kreacher? We haven't seen him for a long time. We think he may be planning something." Mrs. Weasley gave him a somewhat sad smile.

"No, no. Dumbledore has gotten rid of that creature, and of those heads that stood there on that shelf. He wanted to use this house only for the Order and asked me to make it a bit suitable. That was what those papers were for, on the morning when you two had decided to tear down the stairs."

"S-so Kreacher is dead?" Ginny asked? Mrs. Weasley nodded her head and Ginny did a little dance, receiving a glare from Hermione.

"Well, Christmas will be here in a few days, so I thought that tomorrow we could start decorating the house," Mrs. Weasley said happily. The others groaned at the sound of more work. "You can have the rest of today free, but I do expect you to help tomorrow."

"But, Mom! We don't get to do anything fun! All you let us do is work!" Ron exclaimed.

"Well, then you better get started having fun, because you still have to help tomorrow."

"Fine, we will," Ron huffed, and Mrs. Weasley left the room.

* * *

"Do you guys know anything fun to do?" Ron asked half an hour later, lying sprawled on one of the sofas. The others shook their heads, bored out of their skulls.

* * *

_A/N_: Hope you liked the chapter. I need reviews please. 


	15. Christmas

_A/N_: I just wanted to thank BornGryffindor: thanks for your review, I really appreciate it. All right: on to the chapter!

**Chapter 15: Christmas**

After having been bored out of their skull the previous day, the five Gryffindors went straight to work after a hearty breakfast. They started with the hall, hanging streamers along the side of the stairs and placing little Father Christmas' everywhere. After that, they moved into the kitchen and decorated the dark colored wooden chairs with white fluffy lace. It looked very wonderful. Next room was the main living room, which was tackled by them with red and green streamers, hanging them everywhere they could. When Mrs. Weasley entered, though, she thought it looked rather messy and cleared most of them away with her wand, much to the displeasure of the children.

It had taken them all day to decorate the house and now they where just sitting… or rather, lying in front of the fireplace with hot chocolate when Lupin and Tonks entered the living room with quite a large Christmas tree. Exhausted from the decorating the five groaned at the sight of more work.

"Now, now, decorating the Christmas tree is fun!" Tonks exclaimed happily.

"Dinner's ready!" came Mrs. Weasley's voice from the kitchen. They all exited the living room and entered the kitchen, Tonks bounding in front of them, her blue hair flying behind her. Mrs. Weasley was already piling dishes of roast potatoes, beans, salads, pork roast, carrots etc. on the table.

"I'm starving!" Ron announced as he made for the potatoes. Mrs. Weasley slapped his hand.

"You will wait until every one is seated, young man." And with that she turned around to bring back yet more dishes full of food, Ron glowered, his ears red from being embarrassed in front of his friends.

After dinner they all groaned, feeling stuffed.

"That was yet again an excellent dinner, Molly," Lupin announced. He looked better than the last time they saw him. Tonks nodded her head in agreement when Kingsley entered the room. Every one turned around.

"Excuse me, Lupin, Tonks, if I could ask you to come with me," he said. He wasn't looking worried or panicky so no one paid much attention.

"Right, well, we have to go, but I'll see you guys tomorrow, I'm going to help decorate that Christmas tree," Tonks told them, smiling. After that they could hear them leave the house and Mrs. Weasley spoke again.

"It is quite late, and I'm sure you're all very tired due to all that decorating you lot did, which I'm very thankful for, by the way," she added smiling warmly at them all. "But I'm afraid you'll have to decorate the Christmas tree too. Though after that I think it might be a good idea to go out and get some fresh air in Diagon Alley." The others grinned.

"Mum?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked, turning to look at her daughter.

"When are Fred and George coming?"

"They'll be here the day before Christmas, as will Bill, Charlie and… Percy."

"All right, then," Ginny said, looking a lot happier, for she loved her older brothers and they were all very entertaining. The five left the table and went upstairs. They decided to talk a bit though, so they went into Harry and Ron's room.

"What happened to Percy, after the Ministry found out that Voldemort had returned?" Harry asked Ron as soon as Hermione had closed the door.

"Well, he apologized to us, but I doubt mum and dad will forget about the way he acted," Ron began.

"Yeah, we do owl him every once in a while, but he's still a bit distant," Ginny finished.

"So what kind of job does Weatherby have now?" Nora asked. The rest chuckled.

"Well, after Crouch's death he worked as Court Scribe during hearings, as Harry might remember, but a few months ago he was offered the job of Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, because that Umbridge woman was fired," Ron told them.

"Ooooh, that's a really important job, and he probably needs to make a lot of big decisions," Hermione said, eyes wide.

"I guess, but I don't really care," Ron replied, looking very bored all of a sudden. Ginny started to yawn.

"I think we should get this little one to bed," Nora told Hermione grinning, receiving a glare from Ginny, which lost its effect because she had to yawn again. Hermione grinned too and grabbed Ginny's feet while Nora grabbed her hands. Together they picked her up and carried the little red head into their room, throwing her onto her bed. Ginny screamed as she was thrown in the air and then landed softly on her covers. She started laughing like mad and fell off of her bed causing her to scream again. Ron came hurrying into the room, with Harry right behind him. When he saw his sister rolling on the floor laughing he let out a sigh of relief.

"I thought you said you were taking her to bed, not kill her off," he told the other two girls, who just smiled sweetly and pushed them out of their room, so they could change.

* * *

_Hi Harry!_ **Yeah, hey!**

_I,_ **we, **_couldn't ask you this the last time because Hermione was there, but we wanted to ask you a favor_: **yeah, see we made some new candy and we needed people to test them on.** _We're not asking you to try them,_ **we were just wondering if you could give them to Ron or Ginny and just say they're sweets.** _They're called beet-ums._** I wanted to tell him that! **_Deal with it Fred, this is my letter, I deserve the right to tell Harry what I want to tell him._ **What exactly is your point? **_Go write your own letter._ **But I don't have any parchment left, and you're writing him a letter anyway. **_I don't care: get out of my letter._ **Make me.** _Perhaps I will._ '**AAAAH! George, GET OFF ME! **_Well then get out of my letter!_ **No way! Besides, two can play that game. **_Hey, go away, get that out of my face!_

…

_Right, sorry about that Harry, we got a bit carried away._ **Anyway, here are your "sweets". **_Maybe you can give some to Hermione and Nora, toojust for the fun of it._ **By the way, the Beet-ums turn your face beet red, just so you don't freak out when it happens. **_Good point. We got the idea from Ron and Ginny, because they always turn such a deep, dark red when they blush. It's very entertaining, really._

_Sincerely,_

_George_ **and Fred**.

_P.S. We'll be visiting soon._ **During Christmas.**

Harry laughed a couple of times while reading the letter and then took the sweets that had been mentioned out of the envelope. The were round and, unsurprisingly, beet colored. He had woken up at eight o'clock due to the twins' owl tapping on the window.

"Harry, 's that you?" Ron said groggily, sitting up in his bed.

"Yeah, we'd better get dressed. We still have to decorate that tree and then go to Diagon Alley."

* * *

"Ginny. Ginny! GINNY!"

"What?"

"Wake up!" Hermione shouted in Ginny's ear. "That Christmas tree doesn't decorate itself you know, and it's not a short trip to Diagon Alley." After Nora and Hermione had finally gotten Ginny up and dressed, they walked out of their room, bumping into a very sleepy looking Harry and Ron.

"Hi," Ron grunted. Ginny gave a grunt in return and the two Weasley's walked down the stairs, the others stared.

"It's amazing how some people communicate," Harry said, tilting his head in wonder.

"Yeah. They could be Trolls, with that grunting," Hermione said, watching the two red heads disappear out of view. It was ten o'clock and Tonks had arrived to help them decorate the magnificent Christmas tree. Upon entering the living room a wonderful smell of pine trees wafted towards them.

"All right, let's get this started," Tonks said happily. She had turned her hair blonde and her eyes a mixture of gray and blue. This reminded Harry horribly of Narcissa, Malfoy's mother, and she in turn reminded him of Sirius and how he wasn't here to help with the Christmas tree. And even though Sirius's letter had helped him over his Godfather's death for a large part, the thought of him not being here to decorate the tree depressed him. "Harry?" it was Tonks.

"What?" Tonks looked at him annoyed.

"I know you miss Sirius, we all do, but you have to help us decorate the tree, we can't do it without you. Come on, it'll be fun."

"Nah, you go on without me," and he walked towards the hall.

"Harry Potter! If you do not come and help us decorate this tree, I'll make you!" She threatened, grinning evilly. Harry turned around, with a slight smile; he was sure she had nothing on him.

"Like what?"

"I'll turn myself into your lovely cousin and snog you senseless." Harry was a shocked, but recovered quickly.

"You wouldn't dare…" he whispered in horror.

"Oh, wouldn't I?" said Tonks, an eyebrow raised. A few seconds later she had transformed herself into an exact replica of Dudley and then she immediately lunged for Harry, who ran around the living room as she chased him, much to the amusement of the others.

"All right! All right! I'll help decorate! Just please change into something… someone else than Dudley!" he cried weakly from his hiding place behind Hermione, who looked utterly bewildered that she was being used as a shield. Tonks turned into her previous form and smiled happily.

"See I could persuade you?" she said and then turned to open a box full of decorations, while Harry muttered things like: "blackmail" and "women" under his breath. The six began decorating the tree with various things and it wasn't until they were done that Tonks noticed the necklace Hermione was wearing. "It's absolutely wonderful!" she exclaimed admiring it. "The way those colors seem to be mixing. Though the black, dark blue, dark purple and dark green never make a single color, do they?" Hermione shook her head, and Tonks admired the necklace for a few more minutes until Ron exclaimed loudly that he was bored. "Yes, well, I should be taking you to Diagon Alley with your mother after we finished… so, I'll go tell her that we're ready." Tonks walked off.

"What on earth is so special about that necklace!" Ron said annoyed. He got up to take a look and see if it really was as amazing as Tonks had said. "Really, all I see are just a few col…" he stopped talking and gazed in aw at the wonderful colors. Ginny sniggered, and Ron snapped out of his trance, glaring at her.

"Our ride to Diagon Alley's here!" Mrs. Weasley called into the room. They all followed her and Tonks outside, shivering in the cold wind.

* * *

When they got out of the car, they walked through Muggle London a bit until they reached the Leaky Cauldron. They passed through the grubby place, and Mrs. Weasley tapped the brick on the wall. In front of them a hole appeared and it grew wider and wider until they could fit through. They looked around and found that the place looked rather magical: the shops were covered in a layer of snow, as was the large Gringott's bank, which towered over the small stores. The group walked passed the stores and entered the magnificent hall of Gringott's. Some Goblins were running around with packages and bags of money, others were standing behind marble counters weighing galleons, sickles, nuts, ruby's and other gems. Mrs. Weasley walked over to one of the Goblin's that wasn't busy and told him that they wanted to change some Muggle money, which Hermione had gotten from her parent's, and go visit vaults 563 and 382. After Hermione had gotten her wizard money, the Goblin called another Goblin, named Grudger, who led them out of the hall into a large room full of tracks. Grudger whistled and a cart moved onto a track and stopped in front of them.

"You may step in," he said pointing at the cart. The group did as they were told and after Grudger had gotten in with them, the cart began moving. It turned a couple of times going down hill and slowly started to gain a lot of speed.

"Oh, my…" Harry could hear Mrs. Weasley mutter. He thought back of the first time he had been here. It had been with Hagrid, who hadn't taken the cart ride well either. After making a couple of more turns and moving even lower, the cart came to an abrupt halt.

"Vault number: 382" Grudger said. They all got out and Mrs. Weasley leaned on Tonks, trying to regain her strength. When she had regained a little color, she followed the Goblin to her vault. Mrs. Weasley gave Grudger the key and he opened it. She stepped inside and began to gather up the Galleons, Sickles and Knuts that lay scattered on the floor. Harry peeked in and his stomach made a funny flop. The Weasley's really didn't have a lot of money. There was hardly anything left after Mrs. Weasley had taken out what she needed. They got back in the cart and began their roller coaster ride again.

* * *

"Vault number: 563" Grudger announced after the cart had made another abrupt stop, causing the passengers to bump into each other. Harry handed over the key to his vault that had been included in the letter Sirius had sent him. He rubbed the back of his head where Ron had bumped into him. Grudger opened Harry's vault and stepped back to let him enter. Harry walked in, trying to hide all of his money from the Weasley's view, but it was impossible. There was simply too much gold lying around. The whole vault was filled almost completely with Galleons and Sickles. He quickly grabbed some money and then left, leaving Ron staring at all of it in envy.

* * *

They were standing outside Gringott's, looking where to go next.

"I think that we should split up, and meet back here in about an hour, all right?" Mrs. Weasley said. "This way, we'll be done faster." The others agreed and Harry and Ron walked off in one direction, Nora, Hermione and Ginny going in the other, leaving Mrs. Weasley and Tonks alone.

"So, where to?" Ginny asked the other two. They looked down the street where all of the shops where.

"Well, we've got cauldrons, so we there's no point going there," said Nora, indicating towards the cauldron shop.

"And I don't need an owl, I've got Crookshanks already," Hermione said, which excluded the pet shop, too.

"Yes, and robes we have too, but I do need some parchment and new quills," Nora told the others pointing towards Liner's Parchment and Quills. "I think Ron may have stolen mine."

"Then we'll go there first." The three girls made their way through the crowd and entered the shop, welcoming the warmth. It had a high ceiling and the walls were stacked with different kinds of parchment and Quills.

"Oooh, this one looks rather nice, doesn't it?" Nora said, holding up an emerald green quill, with a purple feather sticking out of the end. "I actually think I'll have this one." And she walked over to the counter to pay seventeen sickles and six Knuts. After that she joined Ginny, who was looking for the right kind of parchment.

"I think this parchment is good quality isn't it?" Ginny asked Nora, while Hermione was expecting an expensive quill on display at the other side of the store.

"I honestly wouldn't know, I think we should ask Hermione, she's an expert in this kind of stuff, since she spends most of the day writing on it." Ginny sniggered, and then called Hermione. "Is this the right kind of parchment?"

"No… no, no, no… you don't want that kind, it's really tough to write on, you should purchase this one, it's a bit softer and thicker… or this one, it's not as thick but it is comfortable to write on…" Hermione continued rambling on for another couple of minutes until Ginny had had enough.

"You know, we only have one hour." Hermione closed her mouth, offended, and the three bought a couple of rolls of the parchment that she had "praised".

* * *

"Where to now?" They were yet again standing outside, looking at the shops.

"Oh, I need some new potions ingredients… Neville ruined most of them during last lesson," Hermione said and she dragged the other two over to the Apothecary. They entered and found the shop to be quite dark and there was a foul stench in the air.

"What will it be, m'dears?" A slightly sinister looking wizard asked them.

"Uhm… er…" Hermione mumbled, shocked by being asked so directly; she was a bit shy. "I… erm… I need some new potions ingredients… sixth year… please…" she added politely.

When she had bought every ingredient she needed, they nearly sprinted out of the store in their hurry to put a good distance between them and the sales wizard, who had a hump on his back and whose eyes each looked in different directions.

"Now I won't be able to sleep well," Ginny said, shuddering. "Did you see his back?"

"I know, and his nose," Nora replied, looking revolted.

"Yeah, I was on the verge of handing him a handkerchief." The girls laughed at Ginny's statement. "Well, it's true, you could clearly see everything in it!" This thought made them all gag.

"Let's go to Flourish and Blotts now," Hermione pleaded, rather than stated. Ginny and Nora only had time to glance at each other before they were dragged into the bookshop. It was incredibly large and there were more than a dozen bookshelves, stacked high into the air with nothing but… books! Hermione immediately ran over to the nearest bookshelf and began looking at the covers, running her finger down the spines as she read the title. The other two girls knew that if given the choice, Hermione would live here. After fifteen minutes of searching Nora had found a book that would make Harry extremely happy: _Curses and Counter curses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue Tying and Much, Much More) _by_ Professor Vindictus Viridian_. Harry had once told them in their first year how he had wanted to buy that book to find out ways to curse Dudley, but unfortunately Hagrid hadn't let him. She bought the book, grinning, and then put it in a bag. Hermione, on the other side of the store, had found a volume that she knew Ginny would be very fond of: _Spells, Hexes and Curses: Their History (includes all you wanted to know on the Bat Bogey Hex, the Leg-Locker curse, the Avada Kadavra curse and Many More) _by_ Forrest Finilandus._

When they left the store they caught sight of Harry and Ron hanging in front of the Quidditch store.

"What are you two goggling at?" Hermione asked them. The two boys spun around and Ron pointed at the shop window. On display was Quidditch armor. It took a while for the girls to drag the boys from the window, but when they finally did get them away, there was no time to shop for other things, since the hour was up, and they had to meet Mrs. Weasley and Tonks in front of Gringotts.

The ride back was very dull.

* * *

The next few days went by rapidly, and before they knew it, it was the day before Christmas. The five children woke up smelling a wonderful breakfast. They made their way downstairs, still in their pajamas. They entered the kitchen feeling extremely sleepy and found Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George sitting in chairs, talking happily.

"Well, it's about time you guys woke up," Charlie said cheerfully.

"Yeah, sit down, sit down!" Bill told them smiling.

"Damn morning people. Let me take my time," Ron muttered. Harry nodded in agreement and the two oldest Weasley brothers laughed. Ginny frowned and squeezed her eyes shut at this abrupt noise. During breakfast Harry mentioned Fred and George's letter.

"And… did you guys get into any more fights?" He asked, grinning.

"Well, a little," said George. "I just gave him a little nudge out of irritation because he'd joined in on the letter, and next thing I know he's lying on the ground two floors below me." He showed them the little nudge he had given Fred and pushed his twin off of his chair. "Whoa… Sorry, Fred," George apologized, while laughter could be heard from underneath the table.

* * *

"Isn't there any chance that I can open just one present right now?" Ginny begged her mother eagerly in the living room.

"No, honey, you'll have to wait until tomorrow morning to open your presents." Ginny moaned and sat down next to Ron who was playing exploding snap with the twins and Harry. Percy was sitting off to the side with Hermione, both of them engrossed in their books.

* * *

The living room was full of murmuring since the Weasley's, Harry, Hermione, Nora and a few members of the order were in there, waiting until the large Dinner Feast could be started. Mrs. Weasley entered and led them into the kitchen, which had been transformed. It was now larger in size, as was the table, so that everyone could fit. The feast began instantly and chatter broke over the crowd. It was very enjoyable, everyone was cheerful and the food was absolutely delicious, as it always was, thanks to Mrs. Weasley's cooking. Dumbledore had joined them and he was currently sitting next to Harry.

"Professor?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"When can I visit my parents' house? Potter Manor?"

"I'm afraid that can't be done until this summer, Harry," the old man replied. "I hope you can wait until then?" Harry nodded, as he looked into the headmaster's twinkling eyes.

After dinner, the members of the order left and the rest went into the living room, hardly able to move, as they had stuffed themselves with food.

* * *

"OI! Harry!" Ron yelled the next morning, completely ecstatic.

"Whazzit?" came his friend's sleepy and muffled reply from somewhere under his covers.

"PRESENTS!" Harry woke immediately to find a pile of presents at the foot of his bed. Ron was already charging at his pile when Harry stopped him.

"What do you say we take these presents into the girls' room, and open them with the others." Ron nodded and ran out of his room and into the girls' yelling: "PRESENTS!" They sat up, a bit annoyed to be awoken in such a manner, but then, seeing the presents, they immediately cheered up and began tearing at the wrapping paper.

"Oh my gosh! Thank you Harry!" Hermione exclaimed as she opened Harry's present; he had gotten her her own copy of _Hogwarts: A History_. The others grinned; Hermione never seemed to get enough of that book. It was Ron's turn next.

"YES! Stuff from Fred and George's shop! Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" He yelled at Nora and Hermione as he jumped around the room looking at everything in the packet: Canary Creams, Ton Tongue Toffee, Skiving Snackboxes, a few endless fireworks, a miniature ever lasting swamp, Beet-ums and a couple of more things. He stopped jumping and looked at the two girls. "What are beet-ums?" Harry had known that Hermione and Nora were giving Ron stuff from the joke shop and so he'd asked them to put in the Beet-ums he had gotten.

"I dunno," Harry said innocently. "Try them." Ron unwrapped one and looked at it suspiciously before popping it into his mouth.

"It tastes like strawberries, but nothing is happening… hold on…" As he said this, his face had begun to grow redder and redder until it really was a dark, beetlike color. The others burst out laughing. Just then Mrs. Weasley came in.

"Oh, Ronald, what have you done now?" she asked, heaving a sigh.

"What?" Ron blinked, not knowing what he'd done.

"Please, you only turn _that _color when you've broken something or done something forbidden… well?" she asked tapping her foot. The others laughed even louder.

"It's nothing, mum," Ginny said, rescuing her brother. "It's this new invention of Fred and George, they're called Beet-ums." Mrs. Weasley suspiciously looked at Ron one last time before putting down the fresh laundry she'd been holding and leaving the room. Furthermore Ron had received a red Weasley sweater with the letter "R" on it and a couple of mince pies. Harry had given him Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, chocolate frogs, pumpkin pasties and some other sweets, all packed into a large box. Ginny had given her brother a book about Quidditch. Hermione had also gotten him, besides prank items, a signed photo of Victor Krum, whom she had broken up with last summer. Lavender had given him a book on potions and how to brew them.

Harry had also received a Weasley sweater: blue, with the letter "H" on it. He beamed at Nora when he unwrapped the book about curses and counter curses. Hermione had gotten him a book called: _Dark Arts and How to Defend Yourself Against Them _by_ Menoe Itall_. (_A/N_: Take a close look at them name, see if you get it) Ginny had gotten him what he had gotten Ron: Candy, and loads of it. Parvati had given him a picture of herself in a gold and silver frame, ("Can you say: conceited?" muttered Ron).

Nora and Hermione had both received a Weasley sweater too. Nora's was white with an "N" on it and Hermione's was Yellow, with an "H" on it. Terry had given Hermione a beautiful silver ring that had a little row of diamonds on the top. Dean had given Nora a beautiful silver choker, which had a heart shaped pendant hanging from it. It was gold and had a little diamond in the middle and on the back it read: I (heart) You. They were all brilliantly satisfied with their presents and in great moods until Hermione frantically said:

"Oh my gosh, we have to go back to school in about a week and I haven't gotten any homework done!" So the rest of the vacation was spent writing essays.

* * *

_A/N_: I'm sorry if that was a bit boring, but it's always calm before the storm, which means that the next chapter will be more eventful. Also: I'm a really big copycat and I put things that I read in other stories in my story as well. So sorry about that, but if you see anything that was in your story: Tell Me! And I'll give you credit. 


	16. The Dark Mark

_A/N_: Another chapter, (sorry it took so long)

**Chapter 16: The Dark Mark**

It was the day before they would head back to Hogwarts and the five Gryffindors were hurrying all over the house trying to collect their books and other possessions.

"WHERE ON EARTH IS MY POTIONS BOOK?" Hermione yelled through the house, frantically searching under every chair and table. Her screaming had set Mrs. Black off, as well as Nora who had been right next to the portrait of Sirius' mother and was now half deaf.

"MY GOD, CRAZY WOMAN! SHUT UP!" she yelled hysterically.

"FILTHY MUDBLOODS! RUINING THE HOUSE OF A STRONG PUREBLOOD FAMILY! HOW DARE YOU? GOOD FOR NOTHING, USELESS MUGGLE LOVERS! I CAN'T BELIVE THAT THE LAST OF THE BLACK'S LET YOU INTO MY HOUSE!" Mrs. Black yelled as Harry walked in carrying some of his books. All of their tempers were bubbling up inside them, due to this chaos, and Harry snapped.

"HE'S DEAD! ARE YOU HAPPY? YOUR SON IS DEAD! MURDERED! AND IT'S ALL MY FAULT!" he screamed at her, throwing his books on the floor as he did so. Harry ran full tilt up the stairs towards his room.

"HE WAS NO SON OF MINE!" Mrs. Black screeched after him. Mrs. Weasley hurried over and shut the curtain. Nora just stood there.

"Go gather up your things, dear," Mrs. Weasley told her. Nora picked up Harry's books and made her way to the living room where Hermione let out a frustrated snarl while collapsing in one of the chairs.

"Here it is!" She shouted happily, jumping out of the seat and grabbing the book she had sat on. "I think I have all of my books now… I just need to find my Quill…" and she ran out of the room.

* * *

"Time to get up, dears," Mrs. Weasley told the three girls gently from the doorway. "Don't want to be late or you'll miss the Hogwarts Express." When she received no response, she walked into the dark room. "I SAID GET UP!" All three girls yelped and fell out of bed in shock. Mrs. Weasley smiled contentedly and left the room, probably to wake up Harry and Ron.

"I hate my mum," Ginny moaned, as she got up off the floor.

"Me too," The other two girls said in unison. As they were putting on their trousers they could hear that Harry and Ron had been reluctant to get out of bed too, since they could definitely hear Mrs. Weasley shouting: "Wake up, NOW!" which was followed by two dull thuds as the boys fell out of bed, too.

"Is that necklace made out of glue or what?" Harry said from the doorway to the girls' room. Ginny, Nora and Hermione glared at him before admiring Hermione's necklace again.

"It's true," said Ron, stepping into the room, "Every time you wear that necklace, which is pretty much all the time, people always come over to admire it, and they never leave."

"That's just because it's so beautiful," Ginny told him, not taking her eyes off of the necklace Hermione had gotten with her Halloween costume.

"Yeah, right," Ron turned to leave.

"Well then, come take a look at it and see if you can just walk away again."

"I will," and he walked over to Hermione.

"… And?"

"It's… so… beautiful," Ron said wide eyed, Ginny laughed.

"Come, let's go eat breakfast."

"No, let me see your necklace again!" The others joined Ginny laughter and then dragged Ron downstairs for breakfast.

"Good Morning," Mrs. Weasley said cheerfully. "We don't have that much time, as it took quite a while to wake you guys up, so you'll have to hurry up." They obeyed and quickly ate their breakfast.

* * *

"Are we all set to go?" Mrs. Weasley asked anxiously as Ginny dragged her trunk into the hall where the others were waiting. She nodded and they walked outside, the fresh cold winter air stinging their faces. It being so early in the morning, it was still dark outside and the only light they had were the streetlights, of which half were broken. The ministry car was standing beside the sidewalk, waiting for them to get in.

* * *

"I'm bored," Ginny announced after half an hour of sitting in the car.

"Just half an hour left, honey," Mrs. Weasley told her from the front seat. The five children groaned. Gradually, it became lighter outside as the sun climbed slowly to the top of the sky.

"Can we play exploding snap?" Ron asked his mother.

"No, you'll frighten the driver with all those sudden noises."

"Well, then what can we do?"

"You can talk."

"Brilliant," he said sarcastically. But all the same, they talked during the rest of the ride.

"We're here," the driver told them as he the car rolled to a halt. Everybody rushed to get out of the vehicle and stretch their legs.

"Thank god! I didn't think I could stand it any longer," Harry said while he trying to touch his toes.

"I know, I was bored out of my skull," said Nora, who was stretching her arms out above her.

"All right, let's go, we only have fifteen minutes left," Mrs. Weasley said, walking ahead. They grabbed trolleys so that they didn't have to drag their trunks all the way and made their way to platform nine and three-quarters. "Now, we go two at a time. Harry, Ron, you go first." The others watched as the two pushed their trolleys to the wall and then suddenly disappeared. "Hermione, Nora, you two next." After the two girls pushed their trolleys through the barrier, they stepped aside and waited for Ginny and her mother to come through as well.

Mrs. Weasley and Ginny came through and they immediately hurried over to the scarlet steam engine where Mrs. Weasley hugged them all goodbye. Ginny and Ron were rolling their eyes at their mother, who, fortunately for them, didn't notice. They saw Dean, Terry, Parvati, Lavender and Neville standing there.

"Hey guys!" Harry said, before walking over to Parvati, smiling, though maybe a bit embarrassedly, since Mrs. Weasley was there.

"Hey," Terry said, and he made his way to Hermione, who blushed. Dean and Lavender walked over to Nora and Ron and the four couples were immediately to involved in each other, having missed the other so much. Ginny and Neville stood there, feeling very awkward. It wasn't until Mrs. Weasley cleared her throat very loudly, that they turned around to face her.

"Now, be careful, and do _not_ get in any trouble," she told them sternly, giving each another quick hug, before pushing them onto the train with their trunks. The group got a compartment to themselves and squished in. A second before the train started moving Seamus stumbled in, out of breath, with his trunk.

"I overslept," he panted, sitting down next to Terry, who had Hermione on his lap, since otherwise there'd be no way for all of them to fit.

"At least you overslept, my mum yelled us out of bed. I'm going to have some serious hearing issues when I'm old," Ron said sourly. Harry, Nora, Hermione and Ginny nodded. Terry laughed.

"I live here in London, so it's not so much of a problem for me."

* * *

Somewhere along the ride the food trolley passed by and the nice plump witch opened the compartment door.

"Can I get you anything off the cart, m'dears?" she asked

"Definitely," Harry said. He got up and went outside into the hall to return five minutes later with his arms full of food for everyone. He handed out some sweets to everyone, and was forced to throw a pumpkin pasty at Dean and Nora, who had been so involved in each other that they hadn't noticed him calling them.

"Hey, what was that for?" Nora furiously asked Harry.

"Well, I wanted to hand it to you nicely, but you two were too busy to react when I called your name, so I thought throwing it might get your attentions." Nora blushed while brushing pastry off her shirt. The others silently laughed and Harry handed the two two more pumpkin pasty's which they ate in silence, too embarrassed to say anything. After ten minutes, though, it seemed as though the rest of the world had vanished to them.

At three o'clock they were still busy with each other switching from talking to snogging and back every so often. Harry and Parvati and Ron and Lavender weren't paying any attention to their surroundings either. Seamus had left to find his girlfriend Georgia Havenport and even Neville had gone to search for Lisa Turpin, a girl from Ravenclaw who had sent him a letter sometime before Christmas, asking him if he wanted to go out with her. This news had the other Gryffindors shocked for a few minutes, but they thought it was very good for Neville to have someone who would look after him. But now Ginny was sitting alone with four couples that were extremely busy and she didn't have anyone when even Neville had gotten a girlfriend. NEVILLE, for Heavens sake. She left the compartment to search for the Gryffindors that were in her year, leaving the snogging couples behind.

* * *

"Thank god, that journey lasted forever," said Ron as he got off the Hogwarts Express with Lavender in his arms.

"Really? To me it looked like you were having good fun," Ginny said crossly, storming past him. He just glanced at the others and then head towards one of the horseless carriages.

"Hold on, I just want to do something, before I forget," Harry said and he made his way to the front of their carriage.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked. She and Nora had followed him. Harry was petting one of the Thestrals.

"I just wanted to thank her."

"For what?"

"For bringing us to the ministry last year." Nora petted one, too, being able to see the horse-like animals since her third year. During the summer after their second year she had seen a little boy get run over by a truck. He was instantly killed.

"Can I pet one, too?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded and put her hand on the horse's neck and though she couldn't see the Thestral she could feel it's leathery skin.

"Come on!" Ron yelled, leaning out of the carriage. The three got in and they were pulled towards the castle, snow drizzling down upon them.

* * *

It was Dinnertime now, and the students who had gotten off the Hogwarts Express were walking into the Great Hall, where the others were sitting, waiting patiently for them. Ginny sat down with some people from her own year and she glared at the sixth years as they walked in, obviously still mad at them for neglecting her, though they didn't know this.

"Ah, welcome back from your lovely vacation, students. I would want to start dinner right away, but Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you again that there is no magic allowed in the corridors in between classes. He also wanted me to tell you that a number of items are not allowed to be in the possession of students, you will find a list of these items on his door. Feel free to take a look at it, though I doubt many of you will. Now, let us eat," he finished, sitting down. He flung his long beard over his shoulder, and began to pile some potatoes onto his plate.

After dinner Dumbledore stood up again.

"Now that we have all eaten, I will let you go, but do not stay up too late, as tomorrow is just a regular school day. Also, if the Heads and Prefects could come and see me, I would like to have a word." Nora and Hermione exchanged glances and then walked over to the head table. "Now, I have some unfortunate news," Dumbledore said. He peered at them over his half-moon spectacles. "Mr. Malfoy, is it true that you and Mr. Herbert told Peeves off in front of a group of first and second years?" he asked. Draco and a Ravenclaw prefect nodded. No one had any idea where this was going. "Well, furious at having been embarrassed in front of the younger students, Peeves floated into your common room and destroyed it all. He demolished your bedrooms and it cannot be fixed until tomorrow. I'm afraid you'll have to sleep in your old dormitories." The heads and prefects frowned but nodded and then made their way to their old common rooms.

* * *

"What are you two doing here?" Harry asked as soon as he saw Nora and Hermione walk into the Gryffindor common room.

"Well, Peeves wrecked our bedrooms, so we have to sleep here," Hermione told them as Nora made her way to Dean and sat beside him.

At about half past ten Harry clasped his forehead. After Parvati asked what was wrong he told her that his scar was being very painful again and that he was going to bed. The others decided that was a good idea and they went up separate staircases.

"Hermione, Nora! What are you two doing here? I thought you had your own bedrooms now," Lavender said as Parvati walked in with the other two.

"We did, but Peeves wrecked it, so we'll be sleeping here for now, until ours is fixed," Hermione explained once more. The four girls got into bed and then gossiped for a short while before dozing off.

* * *

**CRASH**

Parvati, who had always been a light sleeper, woke up and sat upright. She had heard a crash. Looking around the room, she noticed it had a strange eerie green glow that hadn't been there when they'd went to sleep. A chilly winter breeze passed through the room. '_Is one of the windows open? I thought we had them all closed,_' she thought while getting out of bed. Walking over to the window she tripped over something hard and stumbled.

"Parvati?" It was Nora, who had heard her friend swear very loudly.

"Yeah, could you help look? I tripped over something, but I can't find it anymore."

"Sure." Nora got out of bed and searched the floor with her hands. Her fingertips brushed against something in the middle of the room. "Here. I think it's a brick. How on earth did that get here? And why are you out of bed?"

"Well, I heard a crash and woke up and then I felt a breeze and I thought that we'd kept all the windows closed. Now, is it me or is this room suddenly green?" Nora looked around and noticed only now.

"It _is_ greenish. Let's close the window, it's getting a bit chilly." They walked over to the window, and pulled back the curtains. Both gasped at the same time and then began to scream at the top of their lungs. The other two girls quickly got out of bed and hurried over to the window, screaming themselves when they looked out of it. When they finally stopped there was an eerie silence in the room and they could hear other people shouting, too, for above the castle of Hogwarts was the Dark Mark, larger than they had ever seen before and surrounding the castle were roughly two dozen smaller Dark Marks.

The four girls quickly ran down the circular stairs into their common room, which didn't help because right behind the window was one of the dark marks and it was reflected horribly on the floor. They shrieked, unable to help themselves, while other people hurried into the common room as well. Not a second later McGonagall stormed through the portrait hole in a turquoise nightgown, looking furious.

"What in Heavens name is going on in here? You'll wake up the entire c…" she trailed off as her eyes fell upon what was hovering only inches from the window. McGonagall closed her eyes before opening them again and a few seconds later Dumbledore appeared. He of course noticed the problem immediately and ordered everyone to follow the two Heads downstairs into the Great Hall. He then disappeared. Nora, who wasn't very happy of having the task of guiding everyone to safety, was clinging on to Dean as if her life depended on it and Harry and Ron were holding Parvati and Lavender tightly. As they entered the Great Hall they found the Slytherins already there, along with the Hufflepuffs, all looking highly confused. Right after the Gryffindors entered they were joined by the Ravenclaws who looked as terrified as they did. Hermione soon found out that the Ravenclaw's, too, had received rocks thrown through the windows.

"What about Slytherin and Hufflepuff?" Ron asked.

"Well, their common rooms and dorms are underground, so they won't have been able to see," Hermione answered, still pale from shock. Just then Dumbledore entered.

"It seems you'll have to sleep here for the rest of the night. Classes will be canceled." He waved his wand and the tables disappeared. With another wave the purple squishy sleeping bags they had used in their third year appeared. Everybody grabbed one and they spread out in groups to talk about what happened. Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron, Dean, Seamus, Lavender and Parvati all got in their sleeping bags to get warm and began talking immediately.

"Where's Neville?" Nora asked after a while. They looked around the room and Harry spotted him, in the middle of the room, standing by himself and shaking. He immediately went to go get him. As Neville sat down with them, they noticed him still trembling.

"Go get Lisa," Hermione ordered, and Harry was off again, trying to find the Ravenclaw. When he came back, the girl behind him immediately rushed over to Neville, giving him a bone-crushing hug. Lisa Turpin, Neville's new girlfriend, had shoulder length brown hair, and blue eyes. She didn't look weak and fragile, like Neville always did, on the contrary, she looked strong, and powerful enough to bite your head off. Ten minutes later Draco came over with Terry to check on Nora and Hermione.

"We're fine," Hermione told Terry, who was looking worried. "But if you're that concerned then come join us." Terry immediately sat down and pulled Hermione closed to him, stroking her hair. Draco hesitated. Then he politely refused and, giving the group one last expressionless look, he went to sit with Blaise Zabini, one of his closer friends from Slytherin. Nora watched him walk away. He had changed.

* * *

Draco woke up. He saw a beam of light across the ceiling and tilted his head. Had the teachers found the Death Eater responsible? As he turned his head towards the open door, he saw a Death Eater standing in the doorway. He frowned. The Death Eater said something and a green light shot out of his wand, towards the ceiling. Draco followed the light and saw the Dark Mark hovering high above them in the Great Hall. He stood up, drew his wand and shouted 'Expelliarmus!' But the Death Eater had closed the door just in time and the spell simply bounced off the wood and shot towards the ceiling. A scream sounded, which was immediately followed by other screams. Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape rushed in and turned white at the sight of the Dark Mark. The Death Eaters were still around and had obviously been able to kill of any student, if that had been his wish. Dumbledore found one of the first girls who had screamed and asked her what she had seen. Draco couldn't hear what she was saying but his heart sank as he saw the second year point towards him. And as Dumbledore looked at whom she was pointing he knew it wasn't good. The headmaster made his way towards him.

"Mr. Malfoy? A word please." Draco nodded and Dumbledore told him what the girl had said. "She says that you had cast the Dark Mark, is this true?" Draco shook his head, which was the only thing he was able to do in shock. "I see… well, we have no proof other then what she claims and your word. We will have to wait and see." Just then a little first year girl tugged on Dumbledore's sleeve.

"Excuse me, Professor?" she said in a soft and feeble voice.

"Yes, miss Hathaway?"

"It wasn't him." Draco felt an unexpected wave of relief wash over him.

"May I ask how you know this?"

"I saw… I saw a Death Eater in the doorway and then the Dark Mark shot out of his wand."

"Mr. Malfoy had nothing to do with it?" She shook her head.

"No, Professor. He even tried to disarm the Death Eater, but the door was shut quickly and it bounced off it into the ceiling."

"Very well, I'm very glad this has been settled. Thank you miss Hathaway." He smiled at the little girl and then turned to Draco. "That was a very brave thing indeed, Mr. Malfoy. I award Slytherin fifty housepoints." Dumbledore smiled, then turned and left. Draco smiled somewhat scathingly in return, scanning the room to find Blaise, the only one who was somewhat similar to him. Just then all the air left his lungs as someone hurtled into him and squeezed him, perhaps too tightly.

"What in Merlin's name was that for?" Draco asked her, somewhat distantly. Nora looked up, her eyes a bit watery. She herself had no idea why she was acting like this.

"Well… you could have gotten hurt. I saw everything and that Death Eater might just as well have chosen to come back and kill you, because you'd seen him. You could've been murdered! You're very stupid, you know that."

"Why, I didn't know you cared," he said teasingly.

"Of course I care, you're my friend!" She still hadn't let go of him. Draco looked over her head and saw Dean walking over, looking ready to kill him.

"Erm… I think you should let me go now."

"Why?"

"Well, it's not like I have a death wish," he said scornfully.

"Could've fooled me," she muttered before turning around and seeing Dean. "Oh, right. Point taken. Just promise me you'll never do anything that stupid again."

"I promise, now go, before I'm forced to send him to the infirmary." Nora laughed at his arrogance before rushing over to Dean and giving him a soft kiss on the lips. It softened Dean up a little, but it blew Draco apart.

* * *

At ten o'clock in the morning the whole school was still soundlessly asleep, except for the snores coming from some of the older boys, and Pansy. Around noon, though, everyone was fully awake. Harry kissed Parvati gently on the lips, and she woke, lying comfortably in his arms. They got up and walked over to Hermione, Terry, Nora, Dean, Ron and Lavender, who had all just woken too. Terry was admiring Hermione's necklace, which she hadn't taken off.

"Those colors…" he said, entranced.

"Yeah, yeah, let's eat," Ron said and then dragged them outside to the food that had been placed on tables in the Entrance Hall, since there were still people sleeping in the Great Hall. They grabbed a plate and piled it full, before heading outside and eating by the frozen lake. When they others were nearly done Harry and Ron came back with their second and ridiculously fully piled plate. Hermione stared.

"Are your stomachs perhaps black holes?" she questioned. The two ignored her and began to eat. When they were done Nora immediately took Harry away.

"What?" he asked.

"Do you think it has anything to do with that time we saw that Death Eater along the forest?" she whispered, looking around.

"Mind you, I never actually saw that Death Eater, but I'll bet my Firebolt he was in on the plan."

"You know what worries me most though?" He shook his head. "Those Death Eaters can just walk around in the Forest and come into the castle. I thought Hogwarts was supposed to be safe?"

"I know, but Dumbledore must have _some_ spells on this place."

"Well, then how did that Death Eater get into the Great Hall while we were sleeping? And with teachers around, too!"

"I don't know. Let's just hope this place has a lot of protection spells on it. Now let's go back before the others begin to get suspicious."

"I think they already are." The two walked back, receiving a few questioning glances.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked.

"That? Oh, well… we were just…" Nora began. She didn't want to worry them by telling the truth, but her mind had gone blank and no excuses sprang to mind.

"We were just talking about Malfoy," Harry finished for her.

"Malfoy? Why?"

"That's between us."

"Oh… all right, then." Ron seemed to let it go, but he didn't really believe them.

* * *

They were in the middle of a huge snowball fight when Hermione had a wonderful idea that she knew would cheer everyone in Hogwarts up.

"WATCH OUT!" Nora yelled at her teammate, but Hermione was too busy with her idea to realize what her friend was shouting about until it was too late. She received a snowball square in the face. Everyone doubled over laughing while Hermione just stood there, her face hidden behind a layer of pearly white snow, paralyzed with shock… and freezing to the bone.

"Come on, we have to find Draco and Terry," she told Nora after brushing all the snow off her.

"What? Why?" Nora said, reluctant to go.

"Well, I was thinking… maybe we should have something like a Valentines ball," Hermione explained as she half dragged Nora away from the others, who were continuing the snowball fight without them. Nora's face lit up.

"Oh, that's really nice… but what if Dumbledore makes us Head's go together again? I _really_ want to go with Dean."

"I don't think you'll be forced to go with Draco. And otherwise you'll just agree but dance with Dean the whole time."

"Yes, but _that_ might hurt Draco." Hermione sighed.

"You can't please _everyone_, you know. Let's just concentrate on finding the other two for now so we can go and ask Dumbledore." Nora nodded, still slightly troubled, and they walked along the grounds, searching everywhere.

"I know. Maybe Draco's in the Quidditch Pitch; he simply loves flying," Nora suggested.

"Good idea," Hermione agreed and they headed off along the side of the Forest towards the pitch.

"Look, I can see him, there up in the sky." Nora pointed at a figure racing around. Draco saw them but turned his back on them and Nora frowned at his behavior. A soft rustling sound to their left drew her attention though. It was coming from the Forbidden Forest and they knew that whatever had made the rustling noise, was hardly something good.

"What was that?"

"I don't know. Let's go." But they were paralyzed as the rustling continued. Then suddenly a cold washed over them, as if all the happiness was being drained out of them. The noise grew louder and then, all of a sudden, the two girls were facing five Dementors, their rattling breaths sending chills down their spines. The Dementors glided forward and one stuck out a scaly, slimy, rotting hand.

"G-grab your w-wand. Harry taught u-us how to f-fight them," Hermione said weakly and they reached inside their robes, pulling out their wands. "Right, t-think o-of something h-happy." They frantically searched their minds and both found happy memory. "On the c-count of t-three. THREE!" There really wasn't anytime for counting, so she just shouted it right away.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" the two girls yelled. Hermione's silvery otter and Nora's silvery unicorn shot out of their wands and charged down the Dementors, but their patronus' weren't strong enough, for there were two of them and five of the towering Dementors. After the first charge their Patronus' evaporated leaving the girls desperate. They tried again but only vapor came out now, and they were too scared to move.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A beautiful silvery stallion came galloping into view and it charged towards the Dementors who fled back into the forest. The two girls collapsed onto the floor in exhaustion as they slowly began to feel warm again. Just then Draco landed next to them on his broom and his patronus evaporated too, after it had run a circle around them, perhaps to make sure that they were safe.

"Are you two all right?" he asked them.

"A bit shaky, but we'll be fine," Nora told him, breathing rapidly.

"I think we should tell Dumbledore," Draco told them at once, and he got off his broom to help the two girls up.

"Good, then we can also tell him my idea of having a Valentines Ball," Hermione said happily, trying to forget the horrible encounter from a few moments ago. Draco shrugged and nodded and they made their way to Dumbledore's office.

* * *

"Dementors?" Dumbledore asked, pacing around his room. "That is not at all possible. And I'm still stuck on how those Death Eaters got in. We have spells all over this castle; no one could possibly break into it, unless there is inside help..."

"What about Professor Spring? The Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers are most often to blame: first there was Quirrell, then that impostor Moody, then Umbridge," Hermione said, but Dumbledore shook his head.

"No, I taught Professor Spring myself, he was never into the Dark Arts, in fact he was seriously against it, which is why he applied for the job as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher… There must be another way, something we've overlooked…" he said to himself. After a few seconds he looked at the three students, having forgotten they were still there, and smiled. "Thank you, it is very useful information, you may go."

"One more thing, Professor," Hermione said. "I was wondering if we could maybe have a Valentines Ball on the fourteenth. I believe it's a Saturday." Dumbledore thought it over for a moment and then nodded, with that famous twinkle in his eye. The three left and headed back outside to continue their snowball fight, but as they reached their friends they knew that was out of the question.

"What's the matter?" Hermione asked Harry.

"Neville's missing," he replied worriedly.

"What?" Nora asked in shock.

"Lisa just came here and asked if we knew where Neville was, she hadn't seen him in a while."

"When was the last time she saw him?" Hermione asked as Draco walked away back to the Quidditch pitch, rubbing a spot on his arm, his face expressionless but his eyes filled with worry as he glanced around him.

"She said he'd been walking along the Forbidden Forest…"

* * *

_A/N_: Ooooh, cliffhanger! But it's a small one, don't hate me for it. 


	17. Hermione's Dad

_A/N_: Sorry for the long wait, but exchange students from Germany came over for a week and they only left today at a really early and crappy time, so I was really tired the whole day, but now it's night and I'm a bit more alive, so I thought I'd start writing, but I probably won't be able to finish it today… we'll see.

**Chapter 17: Hermione's Dad**

"What?" Hermione exclaimed in terror; she'd always been a bit protective of Neville, and her mind was beginning to race.

"I said: he'd been walking along the forest," Harry repeated while pointing to the Forbidden Forest behind Hagrid's hut.

"All right: Harry, Ron, you two go get Dumbledore and the rest of us will start looking for him," Hermione ordered and everyone took off at once. Harry and Ron had obviously sprinted to Dumbledore at break neck speed because only five minutes later he was running right behind them at an amazing speed for such an old man. They soon reached the rest of the group who hadn't found Neville yet and were picturing terrible things in their minds of what could be happening to him right this very moment.

"Anything?" the headmaster asked. They shook their heads. "We'll have to go deeper into the forest." And he was off, the others tagging along behind him, following his gray hair that seemed to have a 'glow-in-the-dark' effect.

* * *

Half an hour had passed and they still had not found Neville. The group was beginning to get desperate.

"You don't think Death Eaters got to him, do you?" Hermione whispered to Nora, who shook her head.

"No, I think he was attacked by Dementors too, like we were."

"But there were five of those things! Neville could never protect himself against them!" Hermione whispered frantically.

"Yes, I know. Let's just hope we're not too late."

* * *

After another hour of searching they all feared the worst. If they couldn't find Neville near the edge of the Forest, then there was no way that they could find him somewhere in the middle, where there was hardly any daylight and they could barely move without getting entangled in a plant of some sort.

They walked deeper in the Forest and the snow began to get thinner and thinner until soon nothing was covered in snow at all. Everyone was trying hard to keep up with Dumbledore, who was walking through the forest in a very quick pace. It was almost impossible to keep up with.

"This place gives me the creeps," Nora whispered, as she jerked her head to the left.

"Sorry, that was just me," Seamus said. "But it is spooky, isn't it?" Every one nodded.

"Stop," ordered Dumbledore and he came to an abrupt halt causing Dean to walk right into him with Harry. "Do not move," he whispered, while peering around a large think tree. Harry and Dean got up very quietly and looked around the tree trunk to see what their headmaster was looking at. There, in a small clearing was a silvery something floating around a lump on the floor.

"I am afraid that Mr. Longbottom may have been attacked, I can not see it precisely as we are too far away," Dumbledore whispered not taking his eyes off the clearing. "We will have to go over there as quietly as we can, lest there is still something lurking around."

The whole group moved forward as silently as they could and were almost near the clearing when Dumbledore heaved a sigh of relief. He walked forward more quickly, but his caution was still there, his eyes darting everywhere, scanning the area around them. The others followed, hoping Neville was all right.

"Oh, what's that?" Hermione said, pointing to the silvery flying thing, as she entered the clearing with Nora behind her. Flying circles around Neville was a beautiful elegant silver phoenix.

"It's… it's… a Patronus," Ron said, gaping. "It's _Neville's_ Patronus."

Dumbledore knelt down beside Neville, smiling. "It looks like we have another very powerful student in our school. Not even some of the most powerful Sorcerer's can keep their Patronus protecting them after they have passed out. Perhaps Mr. Longbottom isn't such a squib after all." He gave a flick with his wand and Neville floated up in the air, with a wave he was sent moving forward towards the school. The others followed, very relieved.

* * *

"Oh, thank god he's all right!" came Lisa's voice as they saw her running towards them from the entrance to the school. Dumbledore had informed her of what he thought might have happened and had asked her to wait for them there.

"Yes, yes, he's quite all right, and very powerful, might I add." His famous twinkle, which had left for a while during the search, was back and he was smiling. Lisa kept glancing at Neville, as if to make sure he didn't leave again, and the Headmaster explained the events to her.

"Can I stay with him in the Hospital wing, sir?" Lisa asked Dumbledore. He nodded and she followed him into the castle with Neville floating in front of them. The others stayed behind.

* * *

The group that had helped search Neville was now surrounding him in the Infirmary.

"Really, I'm ok," Neville assured him, but they wouldn't listen and kept asking him if he wasn't hurt, or if he needed some more food, or perhaps a sleeping potion? Lisa was holding his hand.

"How'd you do it, Neville?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"How'd you keep your Patronus up so long? I never even knew you could make a real one, you said that all you could get out was the usual silvery mist. What happened in there?"

"Well, I thought so too," said Neville. "When I entered the Forest, it was because I had heard a rustling and I followed it. I don't remember why. Maybe I thought one of the students was in there. So I walked towards it and then I saw those dementors, and I tried really hard to conjure a patronus but it didn't work, so then I thought of something that made me very happy and after that all I remember was something silver shooting out of my wand and feeling happiness rush toward me, then I think I passed out."

"What was your happy thought?" Lisa asked, Neville blushed and then mumbled something, hoping no one heard it, but they did: "You". Lisa blushed a bit too and then gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Ahem…" Everyone turned around to see Dumbledore standing in the doorway. They couldn't read anything off his face, and there was only half a twinkle in his eyes. "Ms. Granger, Ms. Glassyd, if you please."

The two girls got up, confused, and followed their headmaster into his office. The others watched them leave, wondering what could be the matter. The portraits in Dumbledore's office were pretending to be asleep as usual, and Fawkes was sitting on his stand, at the side of the room. Dumbledore sat down behind his desk, and the Phoenix flew up and onto his knee.

"Please, sit." Nora and Hermione walked forward and sat in two brown leather chairs. They looked at Dumbledore, who was staring out the window, absent-mindedly stroking the beautifully colored bird.

"E-excuse me, sir?" Hermione asked and the headmaster turned his head to look at her. "W-why are we h-here?" She was a bit scared that she had disturbed him, but felt relieved when he gave a small smile.

"Yes, to the point. I have some information on your father." Hermione said nothing. Wasn't her father supposed to be in jail?

"He is in jail," Dumbledore began, as if he had read her mind. "But we were allowed to ask him a few question, while he was under the influence of Veritaserum, the truth potion." Hermione nodded, knowing what Veritaserum was. After all, they had been assigned to make a mild form of it in the beginning of their year during Potions class.

"Is it good or bad news?" was all she asked.

"I am not quite sure. I suppose it is both. You see, your father told us that he had not beaten you and your mother on his own accord."

"What does that mean?"

"We assume that perhaps he was under the influence of the Imperius curse. He described the effects quite precisely. There is no other possibility."

"But, isn't this good news, then?" Nora asked, while Hermione was thinking things over.

"Not exactly. It _does_ mean that he will be released from prison, but it is also a sign that Voldemort is going to every measure to get information about Harry and maybe about the Order. He and Hermione will need more protection." Hermione looked up.

"What? Why do we need more protection? My father doesn't know anything about the order."

"Maybe not, but if he was able to put your father under the Imperius curse, Voldemort will be capable of finding confidential information one way or the other. He had to get rid of your mother first, otherwise she might have gotten suspicious, and you and your mother would be too afraid to say anything if he would hit her. It was the perfect plan. Then after your mother was gone Voldemort wouldn't have to worry about her and could focus on getting information from inside your house. Did you never wonder why your father would always leave after some inquiries? No? Voldemort made your father come to him and give a full report on everything, to see if the plan was working."

Just then they heard a knock on the door and a second later Snape walked in, looking as menacingly as ever.

"What is it, Severus?"

"Filch is in a very disgruntled mood and requested for you, sir. Apparently we have new Weasley twins in our midst," he turned around and left without a second glance at the two girls.

"It appears I shall have to calm Mr. Filch down. You two may leave." And Dumbledore left too. The two girls stayed for a few more minutes, though, looking at Fawkes, who was asleep on his stand.

* * *

Nora and Hermione were outside with Harry and Ron and were telling them all about what Dumbledore had said.

"So, Voldemort's planning something again?" Harry asked, looking at the lake gloomily. "Can't he just give it a rest for once? I really want to know what a peaceful year at Hogwarts is like."

"So, do I," Ron said, and the two girls nodded, following Harry's gaze. They sat and talked for a while. At dinnertime they made their way back inside very hungrily, because the search for Neville had caused them to skip lunch.

After dinner Dumbledore came over to the Heads and Prefects, an apologetic look on his face.

"I'm terribly sorry, but due to the Death Eaters and Dark Marks, I have not been able to repair your common room and bedrooms. I am afraid you will have to sleep in your house dormitories again." They nodded, not minding that much, and Dumbledore left the Great Hall with McGonagall, both whispering urgently.

"At least we get to hang out with Parvati and Lavender some more," Hermione said, Nora nodded again.

"Let's go find Harry and Ron." They found the two guys in the Entrance Hall with several others, laughing.

"What's the matter?" Hermione asked Ron, looking around bewildered.

"Crabbe and Goyle got caught by McGonagall. Look how mad she is." Nora and Hermione saw McGonagall standing in the entrance of the corridor that led to the Hufflepuff common room and the Kitchen. Crabbe and Goyle were cowering in front of her.

"HOW DARE YOU SNEAK INTO THE KITCHENS? IT IS NOT ACCESABLE TO STUDENTS! AND RIGHT AFTER DINNER TOO! DON'T THE HOUSE ELVES SERVE ENOUGH FOOD AT THE SLYTHERIN TABLE?" McGonagall shouted. Hermione dragged her friends up the marble stairs and towards the Gryffindor common room. They could hear McGonagall's shouts for most of the journey to their common room.

Fifteen minutes later Seamus and Dean entered, both still laughing, and joined Harry, Nora, Hermione and Ron in front of the warm fire.

"Did you hear McGonagall? She shouted at them for a full twenty minutes! She was furious. It was funny to watch," Seamus said grinning as he sat down next to Harry.

"Yeah, it was like a volcano exploded," Dean added, putting his arm around Nora. A little while later Parvati and Lavender joined them and they talked for the rest of the evening.

At ten o'clock they made their way to their beds, hoping to get a good nights sleep since last night's events had kept them awake for the larger part of nighttime.

* * *

**CRASH – CRASH – CRASH**

The four sixth year Gryffindor girls all sat up straight at the familiar noise.

"What was that?" Lavender whispered scared.

"I hope it's not what I think it is," Nora whispered in reply.

"What else can it be?" Hermione told them, getting out of bed. The other girls did the same and together they slowly walked over to the window. Parvati stumbled and swore loudly.

"Ouch! Why do _I_ always have to trip over the rocks they throw in," she muttered annoyed. They stopped in front of the window, which now had five broken windowpanes. Slowly they looked outside and gasped. Hovering over the castle was, again, the largest Dark Mark they had ever seen, and surrounding the castle were the smaller ones. Though it was the same sight as before, that did not make the sight of the emerald skull with it's snake-like tongue any more pleasant. The four girls quickly ran down the stairs into the common room, where a small group of people was already waiting, huddled together. They heard a few more crashes and seconds later a couple of screams, and not a minute later the whole Gryffindor house was in the common room waiting for Professor McGonagall.

She came in seconds later and instructed the Heads to take everyone to the Great Hall, like yesterday. Everyone immediately rushed out after the Heads and hurried through the castle, joined halfway down by the Ravenclaws, led by Terry. As they entered the Great Hall they saw that the Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs were already there, sitting on the floor in sleeping bags, again looking slightly confused. The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws grabbed a sleeping bag too and chose an empty spot to sit.

It wasn't until four in the morning that everyone in the Great Hall was asleep, the Heads standing guard, until they too could no longer stay upright on their feet out of fatigue. The teachers and Dumbledore were still searching the castle.

* * *

"Albus, maybe we should be checking the dormitories, what if someone is hidden there?" McGonagall said.

"Yes, Minerva, I have thought of it too. What bothers me most is: Why are those rocks thrown through the windows? Why do they need the students out of their beds? I do not know the answer and it makes no sense whatsoever," Dumbledore told her, looking very tired. He closed his eyes and a few seconds later the other teachers appeared. "I want the Head of Houses to check the common rooms and dormitories of their house. Report to me immediately if you notice anything odd. The other teachers each please choose one of them to accompany. I will go with Minerva." They all left at the same time.

Dumbledore had taught them a kind of telepathy, so that they would be able to communicate when at different places. When they wanted to say something to another teacher who was somewhere else, all they had to do was think it and the chosen person would hear. Then the person called could use a kind of apparation to go over to the other. That is how the other teachers had been able to come so quickly.

They stopped at the front of the portrait of the Fat Lady and Dumbledore said the password. She swung open for them and he and McGonagall entered. Nothing strange could be seen. They checked every corner of the common room, but still nothing.

"Minerva you go check the girls' dormitories, I will check the boys'." McGonagall nodded and they both went up separate staircases. Dumbledore went to the first door and opened it quietly. He could hear a strange noise, like the swishing of wings of many owls. As he looked into the room he could see nothing but the eerie green glow. But when scanning the room carefully he saw a lot of movement. He held his wand in front of him and muttered: 'Lumos.' Dumbledore frowned and right after he heard the voice of every teacher screaming in his head: "ALBUS!"

As he lit the room he saw that the noise was in fact the swishing of wings of many owls. In the dormitory there were about two dozen of them pecking at everything, tearing sheets, opening up drawers with their beaks, rummaging through it's contents. They were flapping their wings furiously and destroyed everything during their search. Dumbledore stood there and watched. What were those owls doing? This was not normal bird behavior. He continued to watch the owls, unnoticed, and after a while they flew out of the broken windows, with nothing. He walked out of the room and went further upstairs entering every room. In some rooms were still owls, in others he saw them just leave or they were already gone.

Dumbledore entered the Gryffindor common room where McGonagall was already waiting. He closed his eyes and told the others to wait in the Entrance Hall. Together they left to meet them.

* * *

"Albus, how did they get in? How on earth did those Nifflers get in?" Snape asked and professor Sprout nodded, waiting for an explanation.

"Nifflers? There were Nifflers?" Dumbledore asked, frowning more.

"Yes, they were rummaging through the students possessions, but eventually left with nothing. I tried to stop them but they were awfully quick," Snape said.

"I see, what about in the Ravenclaw dormitories, professor Flitwick?"

"Owls, Albus," The tiny teacher squeaked.

"I see, so there were owls searching the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor dormitories, and Nifflers the Slytherin and Hufflepuff dormitories. I daresay Nifflers were an excellent choice, as they are very good in searching shiny coins and items, but it seems he had them look for a specific item," Dumbledore said thoughtfully.

"But, Albus, how come owls were searching the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor dormitories?" McGonagall asked.

"That is because they are higher up in the castle. We would have noticed, during our search, if Nifflers were running about in the halls. The Slytherin and Hufflepuff common rooms are very near the Entrance Hall, so it was easy to get Nifflers into them. But they needed owls to get into the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw dormitories, no one would notice."

"What do we do now, Albus?"

"I do not know. I'm afraid there is nothing we can do." Dumbledore sighed. If only he knew how the Death Eaters were able to get into the castle!

* * *

Harry jerked awake and sat up straight, waking up Parvati in the process. Once more, a feeling of fury flowed through him.

"Harry? What's wrong?" she asked quietly, sitting up.

"I don't know, I feel… I feel livid… outrageous…"

"Do you think it has… something to do with… You-Know-Who?"

"Probably, though I don't know why," He looked away and rubbed his scar. It hurt very badly, but he wasn't going to tell her that; she was already worried enough. "I'm just going to go to the bathroom, all right?" he said. Parvati nodded and gave him a kiss before lying down again.

Harry got up and walked quietly over to the door that led to the Entrance Hall, stepping carefully over the still sleeping students. He needed to get some cold water on his face; it usually helped fairly well against the pain of his scar. Harry was nearly out of the Great Hall when a hand grabbed his ankles and he almost fell on top of a sleeping Slytherin, if his hands hadn't held him up. But now they were hurting as well, along with the stinging of his scar.

"Ouch! Who did that?" he asked irritably.

"Quiet Potter, it's just me." Harry turned his head in the direction of the voice. He didn't need to look at the person to see who it was.

"What on earth do you want, Malfoy?" He asked crossly.

"I just wanted to know where you were going at this time of night," came Draco's simple reply.

"That's none of your business."

"It is. It's not safe for you to go out there now. Those Death Eaters might still be lurking around and it'll be my head if the others found out that I let you put yourself in danger."

"I need to go to the bathroom, if that's all right with you? Now can you let go of my ankle?" Draco did as he was asked, but got up with Harry. "You don't need to come with me, I can take care of myself, you know."

"Yes, I know all about your heroic adventures, but the others would kill me if I didn't go with you. Now don't make me repeat it again." Harry said nothing and walked into the Entrance Hall, he immediately backed into the Great Hall again, causing Draco to bump into him. "What's wrong? Afraid of the dark?" he drawled, smirking. Harry glared at him before saying:

"No, look." He pointed towards the Marble Staircase where a group of people was huddled.

"Albus, how did they get in? How on earth did those Nifflers get in?" He heard a voice ask, recognizing it as Snape's.

"Nifflers? There were Nifflers?" It was Dumbledore.

"What are they doing here?" Draco whispered. Harry shrugged and they both listened to the conversation.

When the teachers had left, Harry and Draco turned to look at each other.

"So that's why Voldemort was so livid; the owls and Nifflers obviously hadn't found what he was looking for," Draco said thoughtfully, rubbing yet again a spot on his arm without knowing it.

"What? How did you know Voldemort was angry?" Harry asked, peering suspiciously at him through the dark.

"You're not the only one who has a connection with the bloody git now."

"What? How did you get a connection? And besides, I thought you were a heavy supporter of Voldemort." Draco looked him, expressionlessly, but there was an indistinct look in his eyes.

"This winter vacation my father brought him to me so he could give me the Dark Mark on my arm, but I didn't want to, because I don't want to be a Death Eater," he said somewhat lamely, "and it backfired and I guess something happened that allows me to know his mood, like it happened with you." He had not yet stopped rubbing his arm, while Harry in the meantime was feeling his scar, which was now prickling uncomfortably.

"Has he lost his body again?"

"No, his new body is too strong; nothing happened to him at all... he might've singed his finger," Draco said as an afterthought. "But that's probably all."

"How come you don't want to be a Death Eater? The whole school thinks you're Voldemort's heir."

"I am, but I'd rather be an auror."

"You're Voldemort's heir, but you'd rather be an auror? Since when did you become so… un-evil?" Harry asked, forgetting this was Draco Malfoy, his worst enemy since… ever.

"I never was evil, I just had to act that way because of my father. But I'm sick and tired of it and the bloody git can rot in hell," Draco snarled, a very strong hint of bitterness in his voice. "Oh wonderful, look who come now." Harry tuned around to see Ron, Hermione and Nora rushing over.

"Harry, where have you been? Parvati's getting worried. She said you'd left to go to the bathroom. What took you so long?" Hermione said. Harry looked at Draco and then told them the whole story.

"You know what I think?" Nora said. The others shook their heads. "I bet he's looking for that Amulet thing. Remember when Neville was attacked that night?"

"You're right, I bet that's what those owls and Nifflers were searching for. And why they left with nothing: nobody had it. But why would Voldemort think a student had the Amulet? It probably has a heavy guard in some far away country, like Egypt. By the way, Draco, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked him politely.

"He wouldn't let me go to the bathroom by myself," explained Harry.

"Be glad, for all we know, those Death Eaters are still lurking around," Nora told him sternly.

"We are."

* * *

_A/N_: Another cliffhanger, but you can obviously guess who it is though, so it's not that scary. 


	18. Death Eaters

_A/N_: Again sorry it took me so long to post the next chapter.

**Chapter 18: Death Eaters**

Everyone spun around and looked straight into the face of… Lucius Malfoy. He was wearing the usual gray Death Eater cloak but his hood was lowered, revealing his face. It seemed to them a lot thinner than it should have been. Azkaban had obviously not suited him well.

"Son… I would have thought better of you than to hang around with two mudbloods, a boy from the family that disgraces the name of all wizards and the oh-so-fabulous Harry Potter," Lucius said in a cold voice that made them all shiver. Draco and his father stared into each other's eyes, as if fighting a silent battle.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be in Azkaban, Malfoy" Harry spat, sounding a lot braver than he felt. Lucius turned his head and looked into those green eyes that Harry had inherited from his mother.

"I was, but as I won't let you five live long enough to read it in the Daily Prophet the next morning, I should probably tell you now: we broke out." Again that same cold and cruel voice, though this time it had a hint of madness in it.

"What? Who's 'We'?" Ron asked, trembling. He looked as if he was about to wet himself.

"All of the Death Eaters. It seems the Dementors have finally joined our side for good," he said laughing. "But I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you five now, you know too much already. Accio wands!" He shouted and the wands of the four Gryffindors and the one Slytherin flew into his hand. "Now, who is to go first?" He eyed everyone closely, first looking at Draco and muttering something about "Filthy traitor," and "Stupid wife." He then looked at Nora and Hermione, "Filthy mudbloods," then Ron, "poor useless wizards," and then Harry, "The boy-who-lived, and nearly killed my master… he shall pay"... "I think you'll go first, Weasley. It'll be better for the whole wizard world." Lucius raised his wand and everyone knew what was going to happen within seconds. Harry received a painful flash-back as he saw Cedric Diggory's body lie on the ground, his eyes open and empty, his mouth opened it surprise. Ron gulped and his eyes brimmed with tears. "_Avada Kedav_-"

"STUPEFY!" came a strong but trembling voice. Lucius was hit straight in the chest by a bright red light and he fell onto the cold marble floor. The five students spun around again trying to look for the person that had just saved their lives. They searched the room and slightly to their right, amongst students that were slowly waking up due to the yell, was…

"Neville?" whispered Ron "NEVILLE!"

"Shut up, you moron! People are trying to sleep!" yelled an angry Slytherin from the far end of the room.

"SORRY!" The Slytherin glared at Ron one more time, but he didn't care; he was running over to Neville, shaking his hand and patting him on the back. The other four joined soon and were thanking him.

"Neville, thanks. You were great. Really, you were," Harry said, Nora and Hermione nodded, still trembling. The two girls were holding each other for support. Draco was looking as furious as ever and still his eyes held a look of caution.

"But… wait…" Hermione started. Everyone looked at her.

"What?"

"Well, if the Death Eaters broke out of Azkaban, then won't there be more in the castle?" Everyone turned pale. She was right, they were probably all here, looking for that Amulet thing they needed.

"What do we do now?" Harry asked, looking around the Great Hall, trying to find anything suspicious.

"We could call Dumbledore," said Ron.

"How? I mean we don't know where he is and if we go searching for him we might run into other Death Eaters," Nora said, looking around the small group.

"I think we should risk it." Everyone looked at Draco.

"But we don't know where to look! For all we know we could keep missing him!" Hermione said desperately.

"Yes, but if we wait here we might all get killed by those Death Eaters that are still lurking around, and besides, we could split up."

"And how'll we communicate?" Hermione asked, hoping Draco didn't really want to go through with this.

"What?"

"Communication. If one group has found Dumbledore they need to have some way to tell the other group that they don't need to look anymore. Or if one of us is hurt, then we need to tell the others that we need help."

"Oh, well, I haven't really thought of that… uhm…" Draco looked at the others, hoping they had a suggestion, but the rest shrugged.

"See? We can't just go running around the school looking for Dumbledore. Anyone else got an idea?"

"We could try summoning him," Neville said.

"Does the summoning spell even work on people?" asked Nora.

"Er… I don't know," said Hermione. "We'd better not try if we're not sure."

"We could go into the Entrance Hall and starting calling for him," Ron suggested. Everyone looked at him as if he was insane.

"Yes, and that wouldn't draw the attention of the Death Eaters at all," Draco said sardonically, in his recognizable drawling voice.

"I know," Hermione said all of a sudden, perhaps a bit too loudly, receiving a few glares from the nearby Hufflepuffs who were looking very tired.

"What? Do you have an idea?" the other five asked, and Hermione nodded her head vigorously.

"Yes. Remember in Transfiguration, we learned how to change certain items into animals." Her friends nodded. "McGonagall also said that certain items could be changed into owls. I practiced the spell right after that class. So… how about we turn something into an owl, and then send it to Dumbledore and the other teachers."

"Hermione, you're brilliant," Ron said. "But what items can be changed into owls?"

"I think it was a feather, but I'm not really sure."

"Well, that would make sense… and there are plenty of pillows here, so how about we take one and then use all of the feathers in it and see if they can be changed into owls?" said Nora.

"It's worth a shot, isn't it?" Harry said, making his way through the sleeping students, in search for a vacant pillow. "Found one."

"All right, here it goes," Hermione said, grabbing a feather. "Wait, I think we should go into the Entrance Hall, otherwise the others might wake up." The others agreed and headed into the cool Entrance Hall.

"Wait, where's Malfoy?" Harry asked, looking around.

"I'm here."

"Not you, Malfoy. Your father." The others turned around and saw that the spot where Lucius had fallen was now empty. "I think we'd better hurry."

"All right." Hermione held the feather up, made a difficult wand movement that only she could do with ease and almost whispered: "_Aviserio_." A flash of yellow light shot out of her wand and hit the feather. There was a loud hoot and a few seconds later a brown colored barn owl was sitting on her hand.

"It worked!" said Nora, almost not daring to believe it.

"Yes," said Hermione, relieved. "Now hand me that note you wrote, Harry, so we can send this one to Dumbledore." Harry, who had just put down his quill, gave the note for Dumbledore to Hermione, who wrapped it around the owl's leg. It hooted happily and took off.

"How many more do we need?" Neville asked, still a bit shaky and looking around.

"I think about four more. One for McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick and Spring."

"Spring too? I don't think he'd be able to do anything if attacked by a Death Eater, other than faint," said Ron.

"Well, he is the Defense Against the Dark Arts Teach- What's that?" Hermione looked into the Direction of the Dungeons, where a loud creak had come from. There were voices.

"I swear to you, it was that fool of a Longbottom boy," came Lucius' voice. A few laughs were heard.

"I thought he was half squib?" came another voice.

"No, it seems he's got his parents' strength. He even fought off five Dementors at once and kept his Patronus going after he had passed out."

"What? Not even the Dark Lord could do that when he was young." Another gruff voice.

"Where'd you say those kids were, Lucius?" came a voice they thought they recognized.

"They were standing in the entrance to the Great Hall."

The six students looked at each other. 'Over here,' mouthed Harry and he sprinted up the marble stairs. The others followed suit. Just as they reached the top they heard one of the Death Eaters shouting.

"Up there! They're up there! Come on!" Nora and Hermione looked terrified and Neville gave a small whimper, but Harry, Ron and Draco had started running already, and the others hurried to keep up. They ran along every corridor they could find, trying to lose the Death Eaters, but I didn't work. They climbed staircase upon staircase and yet the Death Eaters managed to keep up. Finally, after turning into a dark corridor behind a secret passageway, they couldn't hear them anymore and the group stopped to rest.

"Are they gone?" Neville panted.

"I hope so," said Ron, who was doubled over. They were so busy catching their breaths that they didn't notice a tall figure gliding up to them. It was Draco who noticed it first.

"Who are you?" he said, drawing his wand, which he had taken back from his father while he had been stupefied. The person came nearer and as he stepped into the light, given by one of the few torches, they recognized the gray cloak and hood to be that of a Death Eater. But before they could do anything the Death Eater had muttered an unknown spell and all six students found that they could not move. They stood frozen to the spot as the man that could end their lives at any second drew nearer. He stopped in front of them, his face covered by the Death Eater mask. He muttered a spell and the students closed their eyes waiting for the impact, but instead, when they dared to open their eyes again, they saw that the tapestry to their left had opened. The Death Eater muttered another spell and the six were levitated into a small secret chamber, where they barely fit in.

"You will stay here in utter silence, and will not leave until I come and get you, understood?" The Death Eater said in a cold voice they recognized all too well. They nodded.

"Yes, Professor."

"Good." He muttered another spell and the six students felt that they could move freely again. The 'Death Eater' left, and everyone stayed silent. A few seconds later they could hear the voices of the other Death Eaters.

"Found anything there, Snape?"

"No, nothing at all."

"Right. Lucius, found anything?"

"No. Those filthy students, ruining the perfect son I raised."

"Yes, yes, we all know by now. Let's leave, it's not safe anymore. It won't be long before that fool Dumbledore and his faithful teachers find us." The six students heard a peculiar noised, which may have been the Death Eaters using a form of Apparation, and after that there was silence. Even though the Death Eaters were gone the six stayed silent and didn't leave their hiding spot beneath the tapestry.

"Someone's calling us, should we go out?" Hermione whispered a while later.

"No," Draco whispered back.

"Why not? What if it's Dumbledore?"

"What if it's a trap?" he snapped. "It's best if we stay here and just wait until Snape comes and gets us." Hermione gave a slight nod and looked around at her friends. Neville was shaking furiously, and was being comforted by Harry and Ron. Nora was fidgeting with her hands and kept looking at the ground. Draco was either staring at the ceiling or at the entrance of their hideout, as if he was expecting the Death Eaters to storm in any second. The voices were still calling their names, but they stayed put.

It wasn't until a while that Draco was proven right. The voices had stopped calling their names and were now conversing with each other.

"Where the hell are those children? How can they have escaped so fast?" One voice shouted in frustration.

"I don't know, those bloody mudbloods and mudblood lovers. Let's get out of here, you know we'll never find them now," said another voice. They heard the others agree and after that came the weird sound again that told them they were indeed leaving.

"That was close. Imagine if they had found us," Ron whispered. The others nodded, except for Neville, who started to tremble again.

"How long do you think we'll have to stay here?" asked Nora after a while.

"I don't know," Harry replied. They were all very tired now and Ron had even dozed off.

"I hope Snape comes back soon," said Nora frightfully.

"Why? Aren't you enjoying yourself? I certainly am," Draco said sarcastically, a glare in his eyes.

"Oh drop the attitude, you're better off without it," she snapped. Draco just shrugged. Neville had fallen asleep now too, along with Harry. Ron's head was on Hermione's lap. Hermione's head was on Nora's shoulder. Draco was staring at the entrance to their hideout again and Nora was studying him, though she didn't notice it herself. His eyes were a beautiful gray with light blue specks in them. His hair was a bit ruffled and had slightly too much gel in it, she laughed at this to herself. A loud snore erupted and Nora turned her gaze at Ron, who was now drooling freely into Hermione's lap. Nora took out her wand at cast a silencing charm on him, hoping his loud snoring hadn't woken up the others or given away their hiding place.

Nora rubbed her eyes wearily and noticed she was being gazed at, but she didn't dare look back at Draco, for fear she might lose herself in those wonderful gray eyes. Draco stared at her for a few more minutes before looking at the damp gray ceiling. Slowly she fell asleep as her head rested on Hermione's.

* * *

Harry woke with a sudden jerk. He looked around the tiny room before realizing where he was. He stared glumly at his friends and Draco Malfoy. His back was aching due to the hard wall and even though he had just slept his eye felt like lead. He saw Draco stir and moments later he too opened his eyes. They looked at each other. Harry with slight curiosity as to why Draco was here in this room with them, when he had expected him to be out there helping the Death Eaters, and Draco with a look of pain in his eyes that Harry had never seen before. 

Harry thought about what Draco had said. About receiving the Dark Mark, but wanting to be an Auror. About Voldemort specially visiting him, his heir, during the winter vacation to allow him to be fully able to join the Death Eater club. About Voldemort being furious that the owl and Nifflers had not found the amulet. He looked at Draco again but now suddenly understood that the look of pain in his eyes was one of remorse.

"So you knew, then," he said, his voice low. Draco looked at him. "You knew they were going to invade Hogwarts." There was an eerie silence, then:

"Yes." But Draco did not say anything further and Harry himself was pondering it all.

Within the next half hour the other four students had woken up too.

"You know, this is the first time that I haven't heard Ron snoring," said Hermione, looking at the red head, who still had his head in her lap and had a little content smile on his face.

"He is, I put a silencing charm on him," Nora told her. Hermione grinned.

"I wonder where we are," she said, looking around the dark room. "I couldn't see in our hurry. I think maybe we're in the older part of the castle."

"How do you know?" Draco asked her, but looking as if he couldn't care less.

"Well, the structure of these walls, and the fact that the hall outside of our little hideout wasn't lit that well," Hermione said in a tone that said 'duh-isn't-it-obvious'. Draco nodded and looked away. Neville stirred and woke up.

"Wharewe?" He asked groggily, sitting up.

"Still in the room behind the tapestry."

"Still?" asked Neville, frightened. Everyone nodded, except for Ron.

"Should we wake him up too?" Harry asked, not really waiting for answers. He leaned forward to Ron and started shaking him. "Wake up, you little sleepy head, you." Ron opened his mouth… nothing came out. He opened it again, yet still no sound. He tried again, but still nothing. Hermione nudged Nora.

"I think this would be a fairly good time to stop gazing at Draco and perform the counter spell to the silencing charm," she whispered.

"What? I was not _gazing_ at _Draco_," Nora whispered snappily, but as she performed the counter spell that little annoying voice in her head had started speaking again. '_You were too, now give in, because you're going to win this fight._' And somewhere very deep inside Nora knew it was right, but she didn't know how she could ever choose between Dean and Draco.

"Who put that silencing charm on me?" Ron asked angrily, looking at the group.

"Me, but I had too; your snoring was bound to have given away our hiding spot. You were really loud, you know that?" Ron looked away sourly, muttering things like 'I do not snore,' and 'I'm not loud, you're loud'. Everyone went silent again.

After a loud rumbling noise the first word was said since an hour.

"I'm hungry," stated Ron.

"Me too," agreed Harry and Draco nodded.

"So am I," said Neville.

"Boys," muttered Hermione under breath, but everyone had still heard.

"Are you telling me you're not hungry?" Ron asked her

"I am, but I don't care about that, I'm more worried about what happened to the other students."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the Death Eaters might have left us, but they could've gone into the Great Hall and killed the students there. I mean, if we get out of here, everyone else might have been murdered along with all of the teachers."

"What do you mean: '_If_ we get out of here'," Neville asked in a high voice.

"Well, what if Snape forgot about us, or they killed him."

"Well then we go out by ourselves."

"But what if they're guarding this corridor and we get killed. Or what if Snape has to wait days or weeks to get us out, because it isn't safe, and we die here out of starvation, and boredom, and tiredness."

"Hermione, that's a lot of 'what ifs'. I'm sure we'll be out of here in a few hours," Nora said, not really believing her own words, and in a large doubt because of Hermione's.

"What if…" Everyone groaned and looked at Harry. "What if we cast some spells?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I doubt anyone's around so they won't hear us if we cast a few spells to make this place larger and more comfortable, and maybe Hermione can even help us by casting a food charm or something."

"That's brilliant, how come we haven't thought of it before?" Ron said, looking at Hermione very sweetly, as she was the one who was in charge of the food.

* * *

"We are sorry, master…" 

"Yes, we truly are…"

"Please, do not punish us, for it was not our fault…"

"Yes, please, have mercy…"

"SILENCE, YOU FOOLS! IT WAS A SIMPLE TASK, AND EVEN THAT CANNOT BE DONE RIGHT! I AM DISGUSTED! NOW WHAT HAPPENED? WHY DO YOU NOT HAVE IT?" the tall, thin man shouted. His voice was very high and had such cruelness in it that it made everyone shudder, even his followers.

"Sir, we did not have the time… we had to capture those six students… they knew too much," came the voice of Lucius Malfoy.

"But even that was not possible, you let six little children escape and now they are free to tell that old fool everything they know. I am deeply and utterly disgusted. What about the other task."

"The owls and Nifflers have found nothing." The thin man sighed and sat down in a tall black chair that stood against the middle of a wall. A snake was circling around it, hissing.

"Yes, Nagini, these men are foolish, but I need them." The man hissed back. "Yes, I need them all. I am afraid you need to go on the hunt yourself, my precious." And with that the snake glided away, into the darkness. The man turned to his followers who were still in front of him. "We will need another plan." The Death Eaters nodded. "And I'm sure it hasn't occurred to any of you that someone might be _wearing_ the Amulet of Era's…" The Death Eaters looked at each other.

* * *

"So, can we? Can we use some spells?" Ron asked, hopefully. 

"I guess we could try," Hermione said.

"Ok then, I think we should work on size first." The others nodded and Harry said quietly: "_Maxilio_!" Instantly the room started to grow. "How large do we need it to be?"

"I think pretty large: we need chairs, a table and maybe a sofa or two, if anyone knows how to conjure them."

"Well, then can you say when it's large enough?" Harry asked struggling, concentrating hard.

"Sure…" Finally, after a few moments, Hermione said: "That's large enough." Harry cut the blue beam that was still coming from his wand off, and the room stopped growing. "We need light, too."

"Yes, but Professor McGonagall hasn't taught us how to conjure candles yet."

"We'll just have to do with our wands then."

"So, what else do we need?"

"Food!" said Ron.

"But besides food."

"Drinks!"

"Besides that."

"Food!"

"Ron, be quiet."

"Food!"

"Don't make me put that silencing charm back on,"

"Food?"

"Silencio!"

…

"Ah, peace and quiet."

"We need chairs, and couches."

"Does anyone know how to do that?" Everyone shook their head, except for Ron, who was now spelling the word 'FOOD' with an orange light that came from his wand, much like Tom Riddle had done in their second year, in the Chamber of Secrets.

"All right, Ron!" Hermione said very annoyed, and she cast a spell. There was a flash of bright light and there in front of them was a very large meal, already prepared. Ron opened his mouth and he started drooling as his eyes went over the delicious cuisine.

"How'd you do that?" Harry asked.

"Well, it's in the back of our charms book. I read about it during our winter vacation, but it can only be used if there isn't anything else to eat or to prepare food with," she replied

"Can we eat now," Draco said, eying the meal too, though he wasn't drooling like Ron, or at least not as much. Hermione nodded. Everyone sat around the food that stood on the floor and grabbed a bit of everything, but as there weren't knives, forks or plates they had to eat with their hands and let their food sit on the floor, which was very unhygienic.

After they ate they just sat and talked for a while. So far this had been the best part during their captivity in the secret room.

"So, when do you think we'll get out of here?" Ron asked Harry. Nora had again relieved him of the silencing charm, as long as he didn't say the word 'food' more than once between fifteen-minute periods.

"I don't know," Harry replied, shrugging. "I hope it's soon though. We still don't have anything to sleep in or something to at least sit on." Nora and Hermione were talking about random things, anything that sprung to mind and distracted them, while Draco sat in cruel silence, glaring at his surroundings.

"Does anyone even know what time it is?" Nora asked the whole group shortly after. They all shrugged. They just sat there talking for what felt like hours. They had nothing to do, nothing to sit on and nothing to sleep in. Though at least the room was a lot larger now, and they all had some room for themselves. Slowly they began to doze off again.

* * *

Draco awoke suddenly, due to someone shaking him. He looked up and saw his potions master with a look on his face that Draco couldn't decipher. 

"You must wake now, it is safe to come back out. Ah, good, you're awake, help me with the others." Draco got up and went over to Neville, who was nearest, while Snape went over to Ron. He shook Neville gently, feeling the vulnerable boy might die if he shook any harder. Thankfully that was enough and Neville too woke up. After Draco had woken up Harry, Nora and Hermione, he found that Snape was still busy trying to wake up Ron. It took nearly ten minutes before he did wake up.

"What? Oh, we can go? Finally!" Ron said as he stood up and walked out of the room into the still dark corridor, where the others were waiting.

"Professor, is everyone all right?" Hermione asked Snape nervously. Their Professor said nothing for a while.

"You'll see… soon." The look on Snape's face was one that they had never seen before. Nora and Hermione were clinging to each other as they walked into the area of Hogwarts that they recognized. As they descended stairs and walked through corridors the butterflies in the students' stomach began to increase. After fifteen minutes of walking, in unbearable silence, they descended the marble staircase and entered the Entrance Hall. The two girls screamed. There on the floor was Professor Spring's corpse, along with at least a dozen dead Death Eaters. They feared what would await them in the Great Hall, but they entered all the same. Hermione and Nora did not scream this time, but almost instantly they began to weep, for in the Great Hall were over two dozen dead students lying on the ground amongst the live ones. The wounded students were sitting amid them being taken care of by Madam Pomfrey and some of the teachers. The two girls ran over to Parvati, who was sitting with Lavender.

Harry and Draco stood still in the entrance to the Great Hall. Window panes were broken, there were large gouges in the walls where perhaps spells had hit them and the floor was a mess of sleeping bags, pillows, feathers and students, alive, injured or dead.

"You knew this would happen," Harry said, his voice low once more and filled with disgust. "You knew the Death Eaters would kill and you warned no one."

"Yes, I knew," Draco said, and his eyes were filled with such hatred that Harry was taken aback. Draco swept past him and made his way towards Blaise Zabini, not bothering to help anyone around him. Harry joined Ron, Neville who had joined Hermione, Nora, Parvati and Lavender.

"What happened?" Harry could hear Nora ask Parvati and Lavender fearfully as he walked over to them.

"It was awful!" began Parvati. "I remember Harry getting up and saying he needed to go to the bathroom. He had told me to go back to sleep, so I did, but when I woke up he wasn't back and you four were gone too, and I was soooo worried." Just then she spotted Harry. "HARRY! You're alive too! Oh thank god, I was so worried! I thought you were dead!" Parvati began sobbing onto Harry's shoulder as he held her close and Lavender was nearly killing Ron in all the bone crushing hugs she gave him.

"Then what happened?" Nora questioned anxiously, frightened of what would come next.

"Well, you guys never came back, and no one knew where you had gone, and then it appeared that Malfoy had disappeared too," Lavender said, continuing the story. "Dumbledore had ordered us to stay here, in the Great Hall, so we did and we spent the whole day stuck in here. When we went to sleep again you guys still hadn't returned and we almost knew for sure that the Death Eaters had taken you. The next thing we knew we were awoken by screaming and as we got out of our sleeping bags and stood up we saw three dozen Death Eaters in the doorway! The seventh year students, and a few sixth years, were trying to fight them, but the Death Eaters were too strong and then they began casting the worst of the Unforgivable Curses in every direction and we immediately lay down on the ground hoping we wouldn't get hit. It was so awful! I was so terrified and thought that you guys had been murdered!" Lavender broke down in sobs too. As Nora looked around the room she saw there were a lot of other students grieving the loss of their friends or loved ones.

"Hey," Seamus said looking very depressed and miserable. Nora saw that he had tearstains on his cheeks. Suddenly she remembered. How could she have been so thoughtless?

"Where's Dean?" she asked him urgently, her voice trembling, but by the look he gave her she already knew.

"Oh, Nora!" Parvati exclaimed, looking up from Harry's shoulder, her face wet with tears. "I was hoping you wouldn't ask…" And she broke down into sobs again.

"He… he was one of the sixth years who were trying to fight the Death Eaters…" Lavender said, trying hard to not cry even more. She gave a shuddering sigh. "He was hit in the chest by _Avada Kedavra_." Everything swam in front of Nora's eyes.

"W-what? Oh no… no. No, no, no, no, _no!_" And as an unwanted feeling of dread and torment washed over her, that nasty voice in her head said: '_At least now you don't have to choose between him and Draco._' Nora collapsed onto the floor, closed her eyes and cried, wailing in painful misery.

* * *

_A/N_: That was the longest chapter I've written so far, and the saddest. I hope you liked it, though. I got reviews! 10 of them all from: hp4all. Thank you! You gave really good advice, and I know the first chapters are a bit crappy, but I think I'm improving, at least I hope so. 


	19. The Day After

**Chapter 19: The Day After**

Nora was still crying an hour and a half later and there was no sign that she was going to stop any time soon. The news of Dean's death had hit her like an unexpected tidal wave that crashed onto a nearby city, destroying everything in sight, tearing the one she had loved for years from her. She felt as if she was pulled into a black hole and she wasn't aware of her surroundings and the people in them, who were beginning to worry.

Her mind was racing, thinking about all of the events that had happened when Dean had still been alive: him asking her to the Yule Ball, the Yule Ball itself, her clutching onto him as Harry had gone missing from the maze, during the third Triwizard task, those long walks they used to take during their fifth year, the look on his face when she had returned from the Ministry of Magic unharmed, the day he had dumped her for Crystal-Rose, the day they got back together, and now his death. It felt like her heart was being torn apart and the thought of never being able to see him, never able to hear him or to never be able to hold and kiss him again made it worse. She cringed at the pain that was flowing so very rapidly through her body.

* * *

"You think she's all right?" Harry asked, feeling almost just as bad as he had done when Sirius had died, for seeing one of his closest friends in such pain… it was unbearable.

"I highly doubt it. But she's just in shock, that's all," Hermione whispered in reply, holding her best friend tightly in her arms, as if afraid that if she would let go Nora would die too.

"That's all? What do you mean: 'that's all'? She hasn't done anything for the past two hours except cry!" Ron cried out exasperated; it pained him very much to see her in such agony and that he wasn't able to help. Hermione said nothing. It was horrible for her too. She looked around the room and noticed that a lot more people were crying their eyes out over lost friends or loved ones. A lot of the students were hurt too, and Madam Pomfrey hadn't attended to most of them yet. Parvati and Lavender just sat in silence, being held by Harry and Ron. Ginny had joined them a while ago with Luna Lovegood, so had Lisa and Terry.

* * *

Inside Nora felt like she was dying. But it wasn't quick and painless, oh no, instead it was horribly slow and agonizing. It was like the Cruciatus curse, and yet in some way even worse. And then suddenly she felt the desire to see him, one last look before he would only be a memory, a vague vision of the one person she had actually loved. She tried to move but felt too exhausted. She tried again and yet still she could hardly move.

* * *

"She's stirring," said Ron, moving over to where Hermione sat with Nora in her arms.

"Yes," Hermione replied, not taking her gaze off her. Nora moved a couple of times before she was actually able to sit up. Harry and Ron both thought she looked awful but decided wisely not to say anything. Her eyes were bloodshot red and very puffy, her face completely tearstained with her hair sticking to it. She had turned an unnatural pale shade, even paler than Draco.

"I…" Nora said. She had wanted to say a whole sentence but was so chocked up that she had hardly been able to say anything at all. "I w-want…" Everyone looked at her expectantly, as if she was a little toddler, saying its first sentence. "I want t-to see h-h-him." The others all turned pale. Hermione was the first to speak.

"Nora, I really don't think you should, it's too soon." Nora was infuriated; couldn't her friends see that this was important to her? Even though she didn't want to, she had to see his body to accept that he was dead.

"No! I-I need to, p-please. T-take me to h-h-him." She still couldn't talk properly but was determined not to give up this fight. She had to see him, she needed to.

"I think you should wait, too, it's really not healthy," said Harry, looking at his shoes.

"Then I'll find him my-myself!" Nora stood up, or at least tried to, because she fell back down almost immediately. Hermione sighed and helped her up. Slowly they made their way around the wrecked Great Hall. It was a terrible sight: windows were wrecked, feathers from pillows and sleeping bags lay everywhere, body's of dead students were still lying on the ground, sprawled over each other, wounded students sat on the side of the room, other students that had made it unharmed were mourning their loss, and even some of the Slytherins weren't looking like their usual gloating selves but actually seemed to be wearing looks full of pity and sorrow.

"This way," Hermione said softly and they made a slight left turn. Ahead Nora could already see his body. She gave a small choke and broke free of Hermione's arm, running towards Dean. Beside him lay a sixth year Ravenclaw she didn't recognize. Lisa was sitting there with Neville, and wasn't looking any better than Nora.

"Hi," was all Lisa could manage to say and Nora gave a small nod in return, afraid she would start crying again if she tried to say anything. She plopped down beside Dean and laid her head on his chest. This was the last time she would be able to be around him and she was going to take that chance. Slowly she made for his hands, hoping they would feel warm like they always had, but alas, they felt like ice and her stomach plummeted. She moved his hands over to her heart and held them there, wailing in agony before half falling asleep and half falling unconscious.

* * *

"Albus, how could this have happened, how can they have entered?" McGonagall asked a weary looking Dumbledore, who shook his head in reply.

"I do not know, Minerva. It must be something we have not yet thought of. The answer is around somewhere, but we keep overlooking it." The smile on his face had long since left and the sparkle in his eyes had died out. Things were going terrible and there was no way they would be able to fix it.

"Could it be a teacher, Albus?" Minerva asked, dark bags under her eyes and a hint of fear in her voice.

"No, I have thought of that, and no one comes to mind."

"What about a teacher under the Imperius curse?"

"No, all of the teachers can throw it off, and they would report it to me immediately if anyone has tried. It seems that all of the protections around the school are cast away by, not a man, that is impossible, but by an animal of some sort. An animal of immense power, though I do not know what kind. It must be extremely powerful, since almost nothing can influence the barriers around Hogwarts. We need a plan to keep these students safe…" The two teachers walked along the halls, occasionally greeting some of the Aurors that stood there, holding guard.

* * *

The Great Hall was now completely silent, there weren't even snores to be heard. Every one lay on the floor, between dead classmates, tired out from hardly any sleep and grief. It had been a very short day but still all of the students had fallen asleep exhausted. Madam Pomfrey had gotten around to attending all of the injured ones and had left to inform Dumbledore that the ones who had died needed to be taken away into a different room so that a mortician could look at them and start to arrange the large funeral that would be held.

A few people stirred in their sleep, but slept soundlessly on. An eerie red-ish glow was coming from one of them. Hermione's necklace had replaced the usual dark mixing colors with a bright red one that faintly lit the Great Hall.

* * *

"Master, it has been done," one of the men that had appeared said, while still more were coming.

"Very well, though I am deeply disappointed that my other plans have not worked as well," came a cold voice from the shadows. The Death Eaters bowed their heads in shame, hoping the dark lord wouldn't hand out punishments.

"MCNAIR!" A man to the right gave a slight jump at the sound of his name.

"Y-y-yes?" he said in a trembling voice.

"Have you found anything yet? Anything around the necks of those foolish children?"

"N-no, my lord. W-we haven't been able to retrieve the Amulet. None were wearing it, we would've seen immediately if someone was."

"I see. Though I find no reason why I am short a couple of Death Eaters," the icy voice said, still in the shadows.

"It is not our fault," came a voice from beside McNair. "We were waited upon by the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He has, of course, been killed."

"Yes, but there was no need for me to lose men as well. I am sure that you have all awaited this, and yet you take no precautions? FOOLS! What about the giants? Have they joined us?" the man's voice was flowing with anger.

"Yes and no," came Lucius Malfoy's voice.

"What do you mean, 'yes and no'?"

"I mean, my Dark Lord, that only half of the giants have joined us, the others have joined Dumbledore. But we do have the Dementors on our side, Lucius quickly added, as if hoping that would make up for it.

"I KNEW THAT ALREADY! Worthless Death Eaters, all of you. CRUCIO!" he pointed his wand at Lucius, who fell to the floor, writhing in pain. "That should teach you all a lesson!"

"S-sir," came a trembling voice from the left.

"What is it, wormtail" his master spat, irritated. He lifted the curse off Lucius.

"W-what about the A-amulet, sir. H-how are we supposed t-to retrieve it now?" the small man said, looking at Lucius, who was still lying on the ground.

"Yes, good question. Your foolishness has caused me to start thinking about a new plan for a long time but I still have not been able to think of anything. Ah, Nagini, you come right on time." For suddenly a large snake had entered the room and was making it's way through the Death Eaters, who quickly jumped aside. The snake hissed at its master, who hissed back, replying to whatever had been said. "I see. Yes, Nagini, your information is much more useful than theirs." He looked at his Death Eaters, who were glancing around nervously. Lucius had gotten up, and was now standing next to McNair again, still shaking slightly. "Now tell me: what exactly have you seen?"

"My master, there is chaos in the whole school. The teachers are running around, worried. The students are full of sorrow and are mourning their loss, to weak to do anything else. Aurors have been posted everywhere, to guard the school," the snake hissed.

"What about the Amulet, any sightings?"

"None, my lord."

"Are you sure it is still there, Nagini?"

"Yes, my Lord, I can sense its power vibrating off of the school walls."

"I see. Anything else, my dear?"

"No, master. If I may, I would very much like to eat."

"Yes, Nagini, you may go." The man got up and walked into the light, towards the Death Eaters as his large snake slithered away. "You may leave, I have no use for you now." With that he walked back into the shadows, deep in thought, as the Death Eaters hurried out of the room, trying to get away as soon as possible.

* * *

Harry shot up, clutching his scar once again. He had both hands on the lightning shaped cut and kept his eyes shut tight, hoping the pain would subside soon. His mind was racing furiously, images of the dream flashed through his mind vividly and he was feeling an angry irritated feeling that, once more, wasn't coming from himself. Harry looked around the room and an eerie feeling settled in his stomach. The Great Hall, usually one of his favorite rooms with its beautiful splendor and it's magnificent ceiling, looked very gloomy and dark and it felt like a hundred Dementors were present. There was even an unknown red glow about it. He looked around, trying to see where it came from. '_It's Hermione's necklace. Has it ever done that before?_' Harry bent forward and covered the necklace with her sleeping bag; he didn't want anyone to know about the strange behavior of it, though he didn't know why.

Looking around even more he saw that everyone else was still asleep, or at least pretending to. Deciding it would be best to stay still for a few more hours, Harry lay back down. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep anymore, or at least not right away, so he just rested, letting memories of the previous day flow in and out of his mind. It had been one of the most horrible days in his life, as if Sirius had died again. He didn't even want think about the following days. He didn't want to know who had lost their lives and he feared that Hogwarts would be closed for sure. Surely none of their parents wanted to still have their children here, when so many had died?

Harry rolled over and looked at the sleeping form of Parvati. She looked so peaceful, her chest rising and falling at a slow steady pace. He had been so grateful that she hadn't been harmed and didn't know what he would've done if she had been. Harry felt a strong sense of pity towards Nora and the other students who had lost loved ones, or friends. He knew that they were being torn apart from the inside and wondered how they were able to deal with it all.

Nora shifted a little in her sleep. A tear trickled from her eye and down her cheek onto Dean's chest. The students who had been killed still hadn't been taken away. She was having a very peculiar dream. Dean was in it saying all sorts of things to her:

"Nora." A figure floated out of the white mist, towards her, calling her name. "Nora."

"D-Dean? I-is that you?" She didn't know what to think; she knew he was dead, and yet he looked so real.

"It is." The form of Dean floated ever nearer and then stopped a few feet away from her. She didn't know what to do. "I have been watching you from above."

"You - what?" Nora looked puzzled, what was happening? Her surroundings were all white and looked like… like clouds.

"I have been watching you from above and it pains me deeply to see that my death is causing you so much trouble; it shouldn't." Dean took a step forward.

"What? You're dead! That shouldn't trouble me? How can it not? You were the only one I have ever really truly loved! And yet you talk about it like you went away on a business trip and will be back next week!" She was frustrated, confused, livid that this had been done to her and even furious that he was talking about it so easily.

"You should not dwell on the past. Instead you should look into the future. I am not the only one you love." Dean took another step forward, Nora stepped backwards.

"Excuse me? Yes you are!" She cried desperately. If he was going in the same direction as the little annoying voice in her head then she wanted to wake up right now.

"No, there is a certain person in Hogwarts with you… a certain Slytherin." Dean took yet another step forward, a small grin on his face. He was now right in front of her. She looked into his eyes and plopped onto the cloudy floor, feeling the need to cry again. Dean sat down beside her. He knew this would happen, but that didn't make him feel any better.

"Why-y c-c-can't you drop it? I don't like Draco, o-only as a f-f-friend," Nora sobbed.

"You do, you just don't know it yet," replied Dean. She sobbed even more. She didn't want to love anyone else; all she wanted was to have Dean back.

* * *

Nora had begun sobbing in her sleep, but no one woke up, too confused with their own dreams.

* * *

That morning students awoke very slowly, not wanting to continue the nightmare that had occurred the previous day. Harry had eventually fallen asleep and woke up just as Ron was looking around the room, surveying the other students who were awake.

"Hi," Harry said, depressed.

"Hi. Did you sleep well?" asked Ron somberly. He knew it was a stupid question to ask. Harry shook his head.

"You?" Ron shook his head, too. Just then, Hermione sat up.

"Hi," she said, sounding just like Ron and Harry did and looking awful.

"Hi," the two boys replied. It took a while before the rest of their friends where up and when every student was off the floor and conversing with friends, or sitting by themselves, Dumbledore walked in with McGonagall, both looking very tired and old.

"If, I may?" Dumbledore said quietly. There was no need to raise his voice, everyone had stopped talking as soon as he had walked in. "Breakfast is waiting outside." With that he turned to McGonagall.

Every student hurried out of the Great Hall as quickly as they could, trying to get away from death, which seemed to float around in the air. They poured outside where long tables were standing in the chilly air with the usual Hogwarts food. Not much was spoken as students chose a secluded spot and ate their breakfasts.

"Are you all right?" Hermione quietly whispered to Nora as they filled their plates with different kinds of food. Nora gave a small, curt nod. Though it wasn't a very convincing one, Hermione knew better than to ask.

Harry and Ron walked over to the lake; Nora, Hermione, Parvati, Lavender and Terry joined them. It looked as if even the giant squid wasn't its usual carefree self; it was just floating through the water, hardly moving. A bit later Neville joined them with Lisa.

When they were halfway through breakfast the sound of wings could be heard, and everyone looked up to see hundreds of owls in the sky with letters. Errol, the Weasley's owl was hurtling towards Ron and would've landed in the Great Lake if Ron hadn't jumped up and caught it at the last moment. Harry was surprised to see Hedwig fly over to him with a little piece of parchment. She seemed to sense his misery because she sat on his shoulder and rubbed her head against his affectionately. Nora's owl, Siberia, was carrying a letter too, which was a lot larger than Harry's. Siberia nipped at her owner's fingers before flying off with Hedwig. Hermione retrieved the _Daily Prophet _andtook out seven Knuts, which she put into the leather pouch of a brown owl.

Harry read his letter; it was from Hagrid.

_Dear Harry,_

_I know yeh'll be feeling down so I thought yeh might want ter come and visit me in me cabin, on'y if yeh want to. I'll be waitin' for yeh anyway._

_Hagrid_

Harry was glad that Hagrid had thought of him, and he was definitely going to visit as soon as he got a chance. He looked around. Most of the students were busy reading letters, but Draco wasn't; he was sitting with Blaise Zabini under a tree on the other side of the lake. The other Slytherins were nowhere to be seen. Harry felt a tapping on his shoulder and looked into the freckled face of Ron.

"Mum wrote you a letter too." He handed over a parchment that had a few teardrops on it. Harry took it.

_Dear Harry,_

_I am so sorry, dear. You have been through so much trouble in your life, and now this. It shocked me deeply when I read the front page of the _Daily Prophet _and I immediately wrote letters to you, Ron and Ginny. Arthur was already at his office, but I'm sure he'll have heard about it by now. I, of course, will have you taken from Hogwarts as soon as possible._

_Take care, and it won't be long before you're in the safety of the Burrow again._

_Love,_

_Mrs. Weasley._

Harry smiled at the Mrs. Weasley's thoughtfulness, but he didn't want to be taken away from Hogwarts, not even if he was to live at the Burrow for the rest of the year.

Nora had received a letter from her parents and was now busy reading it, on the verge of tears again.

_Dear Nora,_

_I'm so terribly sorry, dear! I read about the events in the _Daily Prophet _and nearly fell off of my chair. I realize you must be going through some horrible anguish right now, as I read Dean's name. I wish I could be there for you but I am stuck at home._

_Lily was crying all morning because of the danger you had been exposed to and it took a while to calm her down. Your little sister really misses you loads._

_Do not worry, though, I will have you off of that school as soon as possible, for more danger might still come._

_Take good care, and we'll see each other soon enough._

_Love,_

_Mom_

_(Dad had to leave early. He'll have heard at work by now.)_

Nora was glad her mother and sister cared about her that much, but she honestly didn't want to leave school. All of her friends were here and she couldn't face being around her family who would linger around her, trying to comfort her and ask unwanted questions.

Hermione had finished reading the _Daily Prophet_ and gave it to her friends to read.

**Attack at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

_Yesterday, in the early morning, Death Eaters invaded Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hogwarts, usually one of the safest places, was immediately crushed as three-dozen Death Eaters entered._

_It began the night the students returned from their winter vacations. At night, when everyone was asleep, Death Eaters placed one of the largest Dark Marks over the castle, and smaller ones surrounding it. After that had been done, rocks were thrown through the windows of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw dormitories. The students who were awoken saw the Dark Marks, panicked and screamed for their Head of House, who came seconds later._

_Everyone was put in the Great Hall, where the rest of the night was spent, while the teachers thoroughly searched the school for anything suspicious, but all of the Death Eaters had already left. Giving up hope the teachers went back to the Great Hall to keep an eye on the students._

_The rest of the night was uneventful. The next day, though, the Gryffindor 6th year Neville Longbottom went missing. Two students, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley immediately went to fetch Dumbledore and together they searched for the boy, along with a small group of volunteering students._

_The group searched the Forbidden Forest for hours, but still could not find the missing boy. Just as they were on the verge of giving up a white glow was seen and they headed towards it, very quietly, in case it was a trap. It was not though, and they found Mr. Longbottom unconscious on the floor with a Phoenix Patronus flying around him. He was brought to the Infirmary immediately._

_That night the students were asleep, back in their normal beds, when the Death Eaters repeated their doings of the previous night. Yet again they conjured a large Dark Mark, and several smaller ones, throwing rocks through the windows when they were done. The students were, once again, brought into the Great Hall as the teachers combed out the whole of Hogwarts, but still nothing was found._

_The next night was one of the most horrible ones in the whole of history. As the students were asleep the Death Eaters snuck in once again, but headed straight towards the Great Hall where they knew the students were. Fortunately the current Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was waiting and killed some, losing his life in the process._

_The remaining Death Eaters entered the Great Hall, but the sound of the loud noises that had erupted from the Entrance Hall had woken up several students who immediately warned the others, at the sight of Death Eaters. Some sixth and seventh years tried to fight off the dark wizards, but they weren't strong enough. After a small fight the Death Eaters just randomly began shooting the Unforgivable Death Curse in every direction, hitting as many as they could. Numerous students lost their lives._

_The Death Eaters disappeared a little while later and left the students who were still alive and unharmed to call for the teachers and take care of the wounded ones._

_Following is a list of those who are no longer with us:_

_Dave Germain – 1st year – Gryffindor_

_Lauren Sissley – 1st year – Gryffindor_

_Rhiannah Lockley – 1st year – Gryffindor_

_Francesca Firth – 1st year – Ravenclaw_

_Raymond Tisk – 1st year – Ravenclaw_

_Jenny Retorisk – 1st year – Hufflepuff_

_Adam Aberworthy – 1st year – Hufflepuff_

_Camilla Trottwell – 1st year – Hufflepuff_

_Jack Ilongley – 1st year – Hufflepuff_

_Sandra Sollang – 1st year – Slytherin_

_Euan Abercrombie – 2nd year – Gryffindor_

_Sarah Jensen – 2nd year – Ravenclaw_

_Lorelai Formann – 2nd year – Ravenclaw_

_Rose Zeller – 2nd year – Hufflepuff_

_Natalie McDonald – 3rd year – Gryffindor_

_Thomas Roland – 3rd year – Gryffindor_

_Gregory Dast – 3rd year – Gryffindor_

_Orla Quirke – 3rd year – Ravenclaw_

_Stewart Ackerley – 3rd year – Ravenclaw_

_Eleanor Branstone – 3rd year – Hufflepuff_

_Owen Cauldwell – 3rd year – Hufflepuff_

_Emma Dobbs – 3rd year - Hufflepuff_

_Laura Madley – 3rd year - Hufflepuff_

_Kevin Whitbey – 3rd year – Hufflepuff_

_Malcolm Baddock – 3rd year – Slytherin_

_Graham Pritchard – 3rd year – Slytherin_

_Jennifer Ackleberry – 4th year – Gryffindor_

_Sean Steward – 4th year – Gryffindor_

_Elisa Bunforth – 4th year – Ravenclaw_

_Emily Mandart – 4th year – Ravenclaw_

_Jake Rasting – 4th year – Ravenclaw_

_Sophie Dungstall – 4th year – Hufflepuff_

_Zachary Lungbert – 4th year – Hufflepuff_

_Anthony Goldstein – 5th year – Gryffindor_

_Ginger Stallion – 5th year – Gryffindor_

_Michelle Jonas – 5th year – Ravenclaw_

_Dean Thomas – 6th year – Gryffindor – During Battle_

_Jenny Young – 6th year – Ravenclaw_

_Tom Melch – 6th year – Ravenclaw – During Battle_

_Michelle Moon – 6th year – Hufflepuff_

_Andrew Nott – 6th year – Hufflepuff – During Battle_

_Fredrik Rowland – 6th year – Hufflepuff – During Battle_

_Kate Moors – 7th year – Gryffindor – During Battle_

_Rick Sivher – 7th year – Gryffindor – During Battle_

_Philip Stone – 7th year – Ravenclaw – During Battle_

_Tiffany Ambers – 7th year – Hufflepuff – During Battle_

_Shelly Castle – 7th year – Hufflepuff – During Battle_

_Written by: Rita Skeeter_

The list looked like it would never end. As they read the names of all the students who had died their faces looked more and more shocked. They hadn't realized that so many students had died. A total of forty-seven. They also noticed that most of them had been in Hufflepuff and Gryffindor.

"Awful. Just awful," Ron managed to bring out. The others nodded. It was terrible. The rest of breakfast was spent in silence again.

"May I have your attention, please?" It was Dumbledore again. He was standing on the steps that lead inside the castle, motioning everyone to come stand in front of him. "Gather around, gather around. In this short time I have contacted your parents, and they all agree, as it is for your best interest." He looked at the students in front of him, and it pained him that forty-seven of them would never be around. A few students were muttering to there neighbors. What was he talking about? Surely he wouldn't close Hogwarts and send them to their parents, like they had written in their letters. "I have come up with the idea to send you all away." Everyone began complaining all at once. "No, no, no. I am not sending you back to your families; it is not safe. I am sending you away to places all over the world. Each group will go to one country and travel around it for the rest of the year. See it as a sort of trip to teach you how to stick together and survive in both Muggle and Wizard worlds. Groups have already been made and equipment will be given to each of you. Everything is arranged and you will receive instructions later today. You may go back to what you were doing." With that he went back inside, leaving the students to whisper with their friends about the trip they would make.

* * *

_A/N_: I was in the mood to write another chapter and I tried everything I could to make it as long as possible. The list with all of the names of who had died took me quite some time to write, but I hope you appreciate it, also the trip idea is not mine (I'm not that creative) but Slytheringirl's. 


	20. The Funeral

**Chapter 20: The Funeral**

"Why do you think we're being sent on a trip?" Ron whispered, breaking the eerie silence. Hermione sighed.

"It's to get us into safety. He obviously senses something's wrong and needs us out of here as soon as possible," she said wearily.

"Oh. So where do you think we're going?" Hermione sighed again.

"Well, we're not all going to one place at the same time, people would notice too much. Look, Dumbledore said: 'Groups have already been made and equipment will be given to each of you. Everything is arranged and you will receive instructions later today.' Can't you listen?" Ron looked offended but didn't try and argue. He wasn't in the mood to start a fight with Hermione. Everything seemed too gloomy and he didn't want to add to that.

"We'll just have to wait, then," he said. Hermione gave a slight nod. Harry and Nora hadn't said a single word since breakfast. Harry was wondering about the attack and his dream. It had something to do with each other, Draco had proved him right on that, but he still didn't know why those Death Eaters had attacked Hogwarts. Sure, they needed to find something for Voldemort, but if they couldn't find it the first time, then why the attack, and bring even more attention to them. It didn't make sense, unless the object was very powerful, which he highly doubted it was. The only thing that had had an immense power was the Philosopher's Stone, and that had been destroyed after his first year.

Harry looked around and his gaze fell upon Neville, who was sitting with Lisa. The attack on Neville sprang into his head once more. The Death Eater responsible had wanted to find something. Some kind of Amulet, but Neville hadn't recognized any of the names of Amulets from the list Harry and his friends had made. Maybe it didn't exist? He turned his head and looked at Hermione. He thought the glowing of her necklace had stopped, but he couldn't tell. Harry looked beside Hermione, at Nora. She was staring at the lake, hardly blinking at all.

Nora continued to stare at the lake, feeling utterly dead inside. She wasn't aware of anything or anyone around her, just the blue lake. She wasn't even thinking; her mind had gone numb. It wasn't until Hermione hit her hard on the arm that she tuned back into reality.

"Are you listening to me at all?" Hermione asked her friend, a worried look in her eyes. _She_ hadn't acted that strange when her mother had died, had she? Or could she just not remember?

"No," Nora stated bluntly, gazing coldly at her friend. Hermione observed her for a few seconds before saying:

"Dumbledore is going to tell us about the trip now. Come." And with that she dragged Nora over to the Quidditch Pitch, where the other students were already seated. They took seats next to Harry and Ron, who had saved them a place near the bottom and were looking at the two girls questioningly, wondering why they were so late. Hermione shook her head and looked at Dumbledore who stood in the middle of the pitch, gazing at them, a slight proud smile showing through his weariness. He pointed his wand at himself muttered something and then turned back to the students.

"As I have said," he started, his voice magnificently amplified, "you will all be sent on different trips." He paused. "I have also told you that groups have been made, and I have done everything to make them as suitable for you all as possible. You will receive details about the trip, including your groups and the equipment needed, from your Head of House after this little meeting.

Every group will leave tomorrow around five to six p.m. arriving at their transportation, airplane, train, etc. by portkey. A sum of money will be given to every group along with instructions and a list of tasks that need to be done, while each traveling in one country.

I have also invited your families to attend to the large funeral that will be held here tomorrow at twelve o'clock, along with the relatives of those who have died during that tragic event." Dumbledore looked down and it was obvious he was trying to remain peaceful. He quickly said: "You may meet your Head of House now, for further instructions." Before muttering 'Quietus' and hurrying off of the pitch, back inside the castle, tears flowing silently from his weary eyes.

"Gryffindors, over here!" Professor McGonagall yelled out to the students. After fifteen minutes, when every Gryffindor was standing around her, she led them to the lake, where she ordered them to sit down. The students looked up at her, gloomily, but their expressions softened a little when they saw the look on McGonagall face: it was full of frustration and sadness.

"I know the upcoming days will be hard on all of us, but if we stick together and think positive this will all pass, with a little extra help from some of us." Harry saw her eyes flicker towards him, but nobody else noticed, except for his friends, who knew what she was talking about. "I have here," she held up a thick packet, "the lists with your groups and the equipment you will need, as well as the places you will travel to and the tasks you need to complete." McGonagall ripped open the packet and took out all of the pieces of parchment it contained. "If the different years could stand apart please? 1st years to my right, and 7th years to my left." Harry, Nora, Hermione and Ron got up and walked to the left, stopping to stand in between the fifth and seventh years along with Seamus, Neville, Parvati and Lavender.

"Good. You will each receive a piece of parchment that contains all of the information you need." McGonagall walked over to the first years and gave them their parchment, asking one of them to hand it out to the others. She did the same with all of the other years. As the eight Gryffindors received their information they immediately scanned the parchment for the groups, which were right at the top, and moaned. It seemed they were going to be split up.

_Groups 6th year:_

_1a_

_Ravenclaw – Lisa Turpin_

_Hufflepuff – Ernie McMillan_

_Gryffindor – Neville Longbottom_

_Slytherin – Pansy Parkinson_

_1b_

_Ravenclaw – Terry Boot_

_Hufflepuff – Hannah Abbott_

_Gryffindor – Hermione Granger_

_Slytherin – Timothy Shift_

_2a_

_Ravenclaw – Padma Patil_

_Hufflepuff – Justin Finch-Fletchley_

_Gryffindor – Nora Glassyd_

_Slytherin – Draco Malfoy_

_2b_

_Ravenclaw – Morag McDougal_

_Hufflepuff – Susan Bones_

_Gryffindor – Seamus Finnigan_

_Slytherin – Blaise Zabini_

_3a_

_Ravenclaw – Mandy Brocklehurst_

_Hufflepuff – -_

_Gryffindor – Harry Potter, Parvati Patil_

_Slytherin – Vincent Crabbe_

_3b_

_Ravenclaw – -_

_Hufflepuff – Crystal-Rose Conally_

_Gryffindor – Ron Weasly, Lavender Brown_

_Slytherin – Goyle_

The list named even more groups, containing the others out of their year, but everyone, after having seen in which group they had been placed, skipped this and continued the rest of the letter:

_The equipment you will need to pack in your trunk:_

_Clothing:_

_- Wizard robes, _

_- Muggle clothes, _

_- Nightclothes, _

_- Etc._

_Bathroom accessories:_

_- Toothbrush, _

_- Hairbrush, _

_- Etc._

_Shoes_

_Wand_

_Quill_

_Ink_

_Parchment_

_Small Personal Possessions_

_Equipment you will be given:_

_Muggle Money_

_Wizard Money_

_Large Tent_

_Food_

_List of tasks_

_Contact device_

_Your group will receive a letter, for which area they will leave next the day, before their departure. This note will include instructions on which traveling device they will use and a map of the new area._

_Destinations for tomorrow evening:_

_1a – France – Train,_

_1b – France – Airplane,_

_2a – Australia – Airplane,_

_2b – Australia –Portkey,_

_3a – England – Portkey,_

_3b – England – Train._

Etc.

_Groups 'a' and 'b' will be traveling to the same areas but need to work separately. Speaking to each other is allowed, however._

_Take care._

Everyone finished their letters around the same time.

"All right. Now that everyone has finished reading, you will take this letter and start packing your trunks. When you are done you will go back down into the Entrance Hall to meet the rest of your group and discuss anything that is on your mind. You may leave," McGonagall said. Slowly everyone headed towards the castle, talking about the groups they'd been put in.

"It really is a shame that we won't be together," Hermione said, walking beside Ron.

"Yeah, but at least me and Harry are both group three, we'll be traveling to the same area's," replied Ron

"It's too bad we have to be with Slytherins too. I mean, not only are they mean and ugly, but I'm stuck with Crabbe. I won't be able to have any normal conversations with him," said Harry. Ron nodded.

"Yeah, or with Goyle. Good thing we're sent to the same places, then, isn't it?" he said. Harry nodded his head in agreement, grinning. "And we're in the same group as Parvati and Lavender, and Hermione's with Terry, and Nora's with… oh…" Ron's voice trailed off and Hermione shot him a nasty look before turning to see if her friend had heard. But when she looked to her left, Nora wasn't there. Hermione stood rooted on the spot and turned every which way, trying to see where she had gone.

"There she is," said Harry, pointing at the lake. Hermione and Ron spun around to see Nora walking, very slowly, a good distance behind them, gazing at the lake. "Should we wait for her?"

"I don't know," replied Ron.

"I don't think so. Let's leave her alone. When she wants to be around us again, she'll come," Hermione said, setting off towards the castle again. She didn't sound mad, maybe a little frustrated. Harry and Ron hurried to catch up with Hermione. The rest of their walk was spent in silence.

Nora walked away from McGonagall with her friends, the information letter clutched tightly in her hand. Together, the four headed towards the castle to pack their trunks for the trip that was waiting for them. She looked to her left, watching the thick layer of snow reflect sunlight in different angles. There was a slight breeze and she could hear the snow crunching beneath her feet.

Her mind was on the letter. She had been grouped with Draco, the one person she did not want to see after this disaster. Actually, she didn't want to see anyone. She wanted to be left alone, but then felt lonely when there was no one around. Nora continued to watch the frozen lake. It had a calmness that soothed her, though it didn't take away her problems. She saw the distance growing between her friends, who were walking faster than she was.

Out of the corner of her eyes Nora saw Hermione stop and look in every direction. Harry and Ron did the same thing, and after a few seconds Harry pointed. Nora guessed that they had been searching for her. She kept walking in her own pace, however, not bothering to catch up with them. After another few seconds Hermione turned around and headed for the castle again, Harry and Ron hurrying to keep up.

It didn't matter. It felt good to be alone. No one nagging at her head, asking stupid questions they knew the answer to, such as "How are you?" or "Are you feeling all right?" Of course not! Someone she loved had just been murdered with an unforgivable curse by one of those bloody Death Eaters. Nora knew, though, that tomorrow her family would come and all of those questions would be asked, and she would have to lie, and say "Yes, I'm all right, don't worry about me." Slowly that lonely feeling crept back in. She let herself fall on her knees in the snow, facing the ice covered lake, tears falling from her eyes onto the pearly white snow, feeling shattered. She had loved Dean with all her heart, and now he was gone. No longer would he soothe her when she felt depressed, no longer would he kiss her when she needed to be cheered up, no longer would he be there when she needed him. And it hurt so terribly! She had felt as if he was her other half. He had completed her. And without him, her heart was empty; she was empty.

When there were no more tears to cry Nora slowly got up, glared one last time at the beautiful winter scene around her and headed towards the castle, where a lot of packing awaited her. She entered the castle and walked up the marble staircase, her thoughts blank. She walked up flights of stairs, and turned into corridors by instinct. Finally she entered the common room that belonged to the Prefects and Heads. Most of her belongings were still there. She noticed, as she walked up the spiral staircase and entered her room, that Dumbledore had finally gotten to fixing the place up, after the mess Peeves had made.

She walked over to the foot of her bed and opened her trunk. It was completely empty, which was good, because now she didn't have to empty it first. Nora walked over to her closet, opened it and looking at her clothes. She pulled them all out and laid them on her bed, starting a careful screening process of which clothes to bring, and which to leave behind. What did the list say again? She gazed at the crumpled up piece of parchment and scanned the list of items to bring.

_Clothing:_

_- Wizard robes, _

_- Muggle clothes, _

_- Nightclothes, _

_- Etc._

_Bathroom accessories:_

_- Toothbrush, _

_- Hairbrush, _

_- Etc._

_Shoes_

_Wand_

_Quill_

_Ink_

Parchment Small Personal Possessions 

'_Right, we'll start with Wizard clothes._' Nora looked at her robes. Somehow, now that she had something to do, she did not feel the need to cry as much and every thought left her mind. She picked up a beautiful dark blue dress robe and laid it apart, starting a pile for Wizard clothes. Then she picked up her plain black Hogwarts robes and one by one she took the Hogwarts crest off them, so they looked like normal everyday robes. Nora put them carefully on top of her dress robes so that her other clothes could fit in the trunk too and still leave some room for any other possessions.

She sighed. '_Next: Muggle clothes._' Nora rummaged through the heap on her bed and pulled out all of her jeans, going through them first. After having inspected all of them she threw aside two pairs that she absolutely hated and never wore, before folding up the rest and putting them in her trunk, beside her robes. She screened all of her clothes thoroughly taking more with her than leaving behind. After all of the clothes she wanted to take with her had been placed neatly in her trunk she exited her room heading for Gryffindor tower, where the rest of her things were. On her way out, though, she bumped into Hermione, and the two girls toppled over, crashing onto the floor. They both looked at each other, baffled, not bothering to get up.

"Sorry," Nora said, gazing emotionlessly at her friend.

"That's all right. I'm sorry too, didn't mean to get in the way. Now could you get off me? It's beginning to get hard to breathe," Hermione replied, smiling weakly.

"I wish I could, but my rear just hurts way too much, so I think I'll stay here on the floor." Hermione laughed a bit. There really wasn't anything that funny about them falling onto the floor and hurting themselves, but it took their minds off Death Eaters and Voldemort, and Dean, and they felt like best friends again. Just then, Terry's face blocked their view of the ceiling, looking confused.

"What are you two doing down there? You're supposed to be packing, remember?" he said, holding out both hands. The two girls each grabbed one and he pulled them up in a very swift manner.

"Thank you," said Nora quietly, not daring to look him straight in the eye, and instead brushing herself off. Hermione gave him a quick peck on the lips. Terry quickly muttered "No problem," before he and Hermione began snogging furiously, perhaps relieved that the other was unharmed.

It was in that short moment that the three of them forgot all of their problems, worries and fears, while Terry and Hermione were snogging and Nora watched them with a little hint of disgust, wondering how long they were going to keep at it. She then shifted her gaze, not wanting to watch any further, and looked at the door that led to Draco's room. Her stomach cringed at the thought that she would have to spend the rest of the year with him: the boy that had liked her since, well she didn't know for how long, but he still liked her, she was sure about that, and that she was 'Destined to be with him,' as Dean had told her, even though she wasn't sure if it really had been Dean, or if it was some sort of weird dream that everyone gets when their mind runs amok due to horrible events that had messed up their life and threatened to ruin it forever.

Nora cleared her throat. The two kept kissing. She cleared her throat again. Still Hermione and Terry remained in each other's arms. It wasn't until Nora had walked up to them and asked: "Mind if I join in?" that they had released each other and looked at her, blushing a deep red.

"That took you two long enough. Now if you don't mind, Terry, we have to get some stuff from Gryffindor tower."

"Oh! That's right, I still have some of my clothes and bathroom accessories there!" Hermione said, and she dragged Nora out of the hall, down the stairs and to Gryffindor Tower, after saying a quick "Good-bye," to Terry, who just stood there, goggling at his girlfriend.

"Don't let me in," Hermione said, as they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. It immediately swung open and the two girls entered the Gryffindor common. Gryffindors of all years were hurrying around all over the common room and walking up the stairs to their dorms several times a minute.

"We'd better hurry," said Nora, somewhat fearfully, and they walked up the stairs on the left. As they reached the door to their dorm, they heard Parvati give out a frustrated yell. They both gulped, knowing that a mad Parvati was definitely not a pleasant thing to experience. Hermione opened the door, with one last glance at Nora. The two girls entered and saw Lavender cowering beside the door, and Parvati standing on her bed tearing her pillow apart.

"WHERE IS MY RED SWEATER!" She yelled, as feathers fell out of her pillow and drifted around her. "AND MY YELLOW SHIRT! IF I DON'T FIND THEM SOON, SOMEONE'LL GET HURT!" Parvati shouted, jumping up and down, causing more feathers to fall and the ones on the bed to fly up. She looked at the three girls by the door, who took this as a hint and started searching everywhere for Parvati's clothes.

"Found it!" Hermione yelled triumphantly, as she pulled a red sweater out from underneath one of the beds. Parvati looked at it, still standing on her bed.

"That's yours, Hermione," she said dryly. Hermione's face fell. She looked up at Parvati, quickly threw her sweater on the floor and began her search again, not wanting to be cursed into oblivion.

"Is this yours, Parvati?" Lavender asked, picking up a dark red sweater that was hanging out of the window.

"Oh, yes! You found it! Yes, that's mine!" Parvati squealed, running to the window. The windowpanes had been fixed, and the rocks that the Death Eaters had thrown inside were nowhere to be seen. "Now all I need to find is my yellow shirt." Parvati looked around and her gaze fell on her bed: something yellow was sticking out from underneath her trampled covers. "_Accio_," she said, pointing her wand at whatever the yellow thing was. Instantly it flew from her bed and straight into her outstretched hand. It was her shirt. "Good, now I can help you guys," Parvati said happily, folding up her sweater and t-shirt and putting them in her fully packed trunk.

Nora and Hermione set off to find their other clothes and anything else they had left here, putting it in a large messy pile on their beds. They would make neat piles back in their other rooms. Lavender and Parvati searched for one of Lavender's socks.

"We're going to go to the bathroom and bring everything that's in there back here, ok?" Hermione asked Parvati and Lavender, who were busy packing Lavender's trunk now that they had found her sock. The two nodded, and Nora and Hermione left the room and entered the one across from it, which was the bathroom. It was quiet large and only for the sixth year girls, the other years had their own bathrooms too. On the left side were four showers and on the right was a large counter with four sinks. Each sink, along with it's counter, was made out of marble and had a large mirror hanging above it. The floor was made out of marble too and had a large white fluffy carpet on it. Straight across from the door was a cabinet that contained the towels.

Nora and Hermione went over to the sinks and grabbed all of the things that stood there; checking the cabinets underneath and the shower stalls to make sure nothing was forgotten. Then they headed back to their dormitory, arms loaded.

"We've got everything, so grab what's yours," Hermione said, dumping everything in her arms on the floor. Parvati and Lavender straightened up having just finished packing Lavenders' clothes.

When Hermione and Nora had all of their possessions they brought them back to their rooms. Parvati and Lavender coming with them, as they had nothing else to do and had never seen the new common room. The trunks of Parvati and Lavender were floating behind them, since they weren't going back to Gryffindor tower until after dinner.

"It's beautiful," Lavender gasped as she entered the common room, Parvati nodded in agreement. Hermione pointed at the spiral staircase in front of her.

"Our rooms are up that staircase," she started, but before she had even finished the sentence Parvati and Lavender had cut off the levitation charm, causing their trunks to fall to the floor with a loud crash, and ran up the staircase. Hermione and Nora slowly followed them, not being able to run normally with their arms so full.

They found Parvati and Lavender standing in the hall, looking confused. There were six doors they could enter, but the two stood still, not wanting to barge in on Terry or Draco by mistake.

"In front of you are the two bathrooms, and here on the left are our bedrooms. Mine is closest, Nora's is beside that one. Across from Nora's is Draco's and the one left over belongs to Terry," Hermione explained. Parvati and Lavender each immediately entered one room on the left, and Hermione and Nora entered their own room.

"This is so comfortable," Parvati told Nora as she laid on the King sized bed. "I could just fall asleep right here right now," she said, closing her eyes. Nora gazed at her, a small sign of warmth in her eyes, and lay down all of the things in her arm beside Parvati. After she had made neat piles again, she carefully packed them into her trunk.

"All right," she muttered to herself, wiping away the tear that had been running down her cheek, "now for the small personal possessions." Nora walked to her nightstand and grabbed her magical alarm clock, three quills, two rolls of parchment, an inkbottle, her diary, which she only drew in, and two necklaces. When she looked in the small mirror on her wall she noticed the necklace Dean had given her for Christmas.

Nora gave a shuddering sigh. Dean. She looked around and her gaze fell on the desk by the window. On it was a picture of her and him. They were smiling happily and would give each other a peck on the lips every now and then, as snow fell around them. Colin Creevy had taken this picture while they had been in Hogsmeade, the day they had gotten back together. Tears sprang into her eyes as she looked at it. She picked the picture up, ran a finger across Dean's cheek and then laid it gently on top of everything else in her trunk while silently crying.

She walked back to her desk and picked up another picture, one of her and her family. She gazed at it, feeling both angry and scared as she thought about the funeral the next day.

Just as she was mournfully checking her room for anything else she wanted to take with her while drying her eyes and sniffing, Hermione entered, a sleepy looking Lavender standing behind her, rubbing her eyes.

"Are you done?" Hermione asked softly, looking over at Parvati

"She fell asleep," Nora explained, drying her eyes once more. Hermione nodded.

"This one too," she said, pointing at Lavender behind her. Nora smiled feebly and walked over to Parvati. She shook the sleeping girl very slightly, but it was enough. Parvati sat up straight, looking highly confused.

"Where am I? Oh, right… I want your bed," she stated, folding her arms. Nora had to chuckle at this, despite the way she felt inside.

"Come on, we have to go, or the rest will get mad at us for being late," Hermione said. Parvati got off Nora's bed, and Nora cast a levitating charm on her trunk, letting it hover behind her. The four girls and two floating trunks made their way down the spiral staircase and into the common room where Parvati and Lavender cast the charm on their trunks too, which were still lying there. Then they made their way slowly towards the Entrance Hall where most of the school was already standing, talking rapidly about the past events. Professor McGonagall stood at the foot of the stairs.

"Ah, Ms. Brown, Ms. Glassyd, Ms. Granger and Ms. Patil. How nice of you to join us," she said, ticking off their names on a piece of parchment as she said them. "Please put your trunks in that chamber where Professor Snape will mark it with your name." The four girls headed into a chamber to the side of the Entrance Hall. It was already filled with more than a hundred trunks.

"Put your trunks down here," said Snape, his voice cold. The four girls cut the levitation charm off and Snape muttered an unknown spell, causing their names to flash in the left hand corner of their trunks in an orange color. "You may leave," he said, watching them expressionlessly. They left and walked back into the Entrance Hall, searching for other members of their group. Nora spotted Draco immediately, due to his platinum blond hair that always stood out against dark colors. She walked over to him, slowly, feeling she couldn't do this. She couldn't do this at all. Justin was standing there too, but Padma was nowhere to be seen.

"Hi," Nora said quietly, standing beside Justin, feeling ready to burst into tears just at the sight of them. She could feel Draco's eyes on her, searching her.

"Hi," the two replied. Just then Padma joined them.

"Hi," she breathed. "I ran all the way down here, my trunk crashing into almost everything there was. I didn't want to make you three wait." She inhaled a large gulp of air.

"Hi," the other three said again.

"So, what are we supposed to discuss?" Justin asked.

"Er… well I think it was supposed to be more of a 'getting to know each other' kind of thing," Padma said. "But we already know each other pretty well, don't we?" Justin nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, well… except for… Mal- Draco," he said, looking down at his shoes awkwardly.

"Er…yeah," Padma said, gazing intently at the Grand Stairs. Nora cast a hasty glance at Draco but to her disappointment she saw that he didn't seem to care what the others thought of him. But what had she expected? Had she really thought Draco would want to get matey with the other houses now that he had escaped Death Eaters with them? She found it hard to stand up for him, especially after what had happened, but after a deep intake of breath she managed to say:

"He's nice. You'll get to know him easy enough, if you want to," she said, looking at the two, trying hard to get some emotion into her voice, since they clearly wouldn't believe her is she spoke distantly, which was the way she felt. Distant. Padma and Justin looked at her. They nodded. Justin held his hand out and Draco shook it, trying hard to look friendly, but feeling it was a waste of time. Just then Professor McGonagall spoke.

"Now that everyone is here, we can all eat. The idea is that you sit with your group at one of the tables." She then opened the doors to the Great Hall and entered, the students following. Draco, Justin, Nora and Padma made their way to one of the tables and sat down. When everyone was seated a hushed talk broke out over the students. The four picked up their menus and ordered what looked, and sounded, most appealing to them.

During their dinner, Nora talked with Padma, who sat across from her, about the oncoming trip and Draco talked with Justin, who across from him and next to Nora, about Quidditch.

The Great Hall had been put back in its natural condition. The windows had been replaced, the walls had been turned to their usual splendor and the magical ceiling still worked. It was quiet dull, though, instead of the beautiful stars that were usually in the sky, the ceiling was now fully gray. Not even a little open spot. It was all gray.

Dinner that evening had been somewhat pleasant and when she had finished, Nora had gone straight to bed, feeling too exhausted and dreadful to stay awake any longer and leaving a worried Hermione, Harry and Ron behind.

* * *

Nora woke up that morning at nine o'clock. She got out of bed, grabbed the clean clothes she had set apart for that day and headed for her bathroom. She filled the tub full with nice hot water and lots of different bubble bath foam. When the bath was finally full she undressed and got in. The hot bath soothed her somewhat, but still she sat there for what felt like hours just crying silently, sobbing into her hands, salty tears falling into the water. When she checked the magical clock on the wall she saw that it was ten o'clock (already) and quickly jumped out of the bathtub to dry off. She dressed hurriedly, quickly stepped into her sneakers and put her hair swiftly into a high ponytail. A few strands fell down from it and framed her face, but she tucked them behind her ears immediately, not feeling like being pretty today at all. Looking into the mirror she sighed and began crying silently again. Then, while not daring to believe how her life could have plummeted this low, she opened the door and nearly crashed into Draco. 

"Well, that took you long enough," he said, drawling somewhat.

"I'm so sorry," she apologized, while quickly drying her eyes, completely thrown off track and nervous of being alone with him ever since the dream with Dean. "I kind of lost track of time." She could hear a shower working and assumed that Terry was in the other bathroom.

"Yeah, I'll bet. Hermione's waiting for you in the Great Hall, by the way," Draco told her, pitying her for crying again and feeling confused as to why Nora was acting so strange… almost as if she was bashful. He walked past her to take a quick shower. Nora entered her room to get the black robe that she'd be wearing for the funeral, before running down the stairs and down towards the Great Hall.

"You sure took your time," Hermione said worriedly, as Nora plopped down next to her, famished.

"Yes, I know. Draco already lectured me. I'm sorry. I lost track of time," she replied, not daring to look her friends in the eyes as she piled her plate full with delicious foods, feeling ravenous. Even though she had eaten a whole lot yesterday night, she was starving now. Harry, Hermione and Ron watched her nervously as she piled more and more food on her plate.

"Is something wrong?" Hermione asked. "You're eating more than Ron at this point and you had a large dinner yesterday… Are you feeling all right?" Nora shrugged, thinking it was a bloody stupid question of Hermione to ask, and quietly ate her breakfast.

After breakfast the four Gryffindors stood up. It was now eleven o'clock and they had decided to go for one last walk around the Hogwarts grounds. Clearly they weren't the only ones to do so, because almost everyone was outside, either sitting by that lake or strolling with friends, watching the snow covered scene.

"I'll miss Hogwarts," Ron said, absentmindedly. The others nodded.

"Yeah. It was like a home to me," said Harry.

"But at least we'll be able to travel around countries," Hermione told them. It had always been one of her dreams to travel, and it was even better now because she was with Terry.

"I can't wait to go to all of those cities. I hope we get free time though, and not just work on those tasks. I wonder what they are. They better be easy," Ron said darkly.

"Don't worry, you've got Mandy Brocklehurst in your group, she's in Ravenclaw and very bright, so she'll finish your task if you feel too stupid," said Hermione.

"Really? She's smart? Almost as smart as you? Are you sure?" asked Ron with a lot of hope in his voice. Hermione just rolled her eyes.

"Ron, you know you're going to have to do some of it yourself," Harry said, grinning.

"I know." Ron looked down at the floor. Hermione shook her head. Ron would probably do anything to get out of doing homework or any work at all.

"You're awfully quiet," she whispered to Nora, as they turned around to head back to the castle.

"I was just listening to the conversation very intently," Nora stated tersely, shaken out of her thoughts, and once more feeling the need to burst into tears.

"Right," Hermione muttered, but said nothing else. She knew what was on Nora's mind, she almost always knew.

Nora had been thinking about Dean, of course, and the funeral. Her parents were probably already here, waiting for her, and she was waiting for the moment they would bombard her with questions and expect a fully detailed answer. She wouldn't be able to do it, though. Sure, her mourning had lessened, though only by a tad, and she was still extremely unstable, even if she didn't show it on the outside. She would have to ask Hermione to help her.

"'Mione?" whispered Nora fearfully, while Harry and Ron were discussing Quidditch and how it was a shame they wouldn't be able to play it while they were on the trip.

"Hmmm?" Hermione replied.

"You have to help me. When my family is here," Nora said, still whispering.

"Of course I will. But you'll have to help me, too. I doubt my father will understand, if he comes," answered Hermione quietly. Nora nodded.

"Maybe I can take my broom with me, and then fly it at night when everyone's asleep," Ron said, thoughtfully.

"I doubt it," replied Harry gloomily. They turned a corner and saw Hogwarts castle towering above them. In front of it stood hundreds of witches and wizards. As soon as the four came into view of the families, a little girl ran over to them and knocked Nora off of her feet. After Harry had pulled her back up, Nora picked her little sister up in her arms.

"I'm sure you all remember Lily, don't you?" she asked her friends, who nodded and smiled at the little girl who had been so happy to see her older sister.

"Hi, Lily," Hermione said, stroking Lily's hair.

"Hi, Hermione," she replied. Harry looked at Lily. He remembered the first time when he had heard the name and asked Nora why she was called Lily. Nora had smiled, something she hadn't done for a while now, and said:

"My parents named her after your mother, they'd been good friends with your parents." Harry had been quiet taken aback.

"Hi, Harry!" Lily said, holding out her arms to him. Harry was pulled out of his thoughts. He walked over to Nora who handed Lily over to him. He held her in his arms.

"Hey, little one." Lily pouted.

"I am not little."

"You are to me," replied Harry, laughing. She had always been very dear to him and he loved it when she was with him. He felt they had a special bond. She was the little sister he never had.

"Hermione!" a voice called from their right. Hermione turned around and saw her father running over to her. He was hurrying quickly and when he had reached the group he pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. The imperius curse had been lifted long ago.

"Hi, dad," Hermione said, a little shyly.

"I… I need to talk to you alone for a minute. If you don't mind," he said. Hermione looked at her friends, unsure of what to do. What if this wasn't her real father? Nora gave an ever so slight nod and Hermione followed her father off to the side. Harry, Nora, Ron and Lily watched, so that they would be able to come into action, if necessary.

"Honey," Mr. Granger started. Hermione looked at her feet. "I'm… I'm so very sorry. But you should know… that it wasn't me in person. Your headmaster explained it to me. He said I was under some kind of… Impius spell?"

"Imperius curse, daddy," Hermione corrected him. He nodded.

"Yes, that was it. He said I had been under the Imperius curse. I really didn't mean to hurt you, or your mother. But this little voice in my head kept telling me to do it and I did try to fight it, I really did, but I was too weak." Hermione's father looked at her. Hermione looked up at him. She saw his brown eyes that looked exactly like hers, full of tears. It really was her father.

"I believe you. Not many people can throw the Imperius curse off. Harry can," Hermione said, she pointed to Harry who was still holding Lily.

"He must be very strong, then. If even you can't do it." Hermione nodded.

"He is," she said. Her father looked back at her.

"Professor Dumbledore told me what happened yesterday morning. I understand that, well, one of you four has… lost someone?" He asked. Hermione nodded.

"Yes. Nora," she replied softly.

"Would she mind if I said my condolences?" Mr. Granger asked

"I don't think so. Just don't ask any questions about it," Hermione told him. He nodded and together they made their way back to Hermione's friends. Mr. Granger took a deep breath, put a hand on Nora's shoulder and said:

"I'm very sorry for your loss. I know how you must be feeling," Nora nodded.

"Thank you," she said quietly. He was the first one to give his condolences. Not even her friends had said it. But she didn't mind. She was more worried about Mr. Granger, actually. He must be feeling worse, as it was he who had killed Mrs. Granger, though not directly. She gave Mr. Granger a warm smile before turning to Lily, not wanting to show how weak she was at this moment.

"Lily? Do you want to stay with Harry?" Nora asked. Lily nodded. Everyone could see that those two had a special bond and they thought it was quiet sweet. Just then four more people came running up to them, eight more walking in a quick pace behind. When the four in the front came closer, they saw that they were Nora and Ron's parents.

"Oh, Ron! We were so worried about you and Ginny! I do hope you're all right! You are, aren't you?" Mrs. Weasly asked, flattening Ron with hugs and kisses. Harry sniggered but stopped as soon as Mrs. Weasly turned to him and gave him a big hug. Nora's parents were also fussing about, telling her how scared they had been and asking if she was all right. Nora nodded.

"And as for you, young lady," Mrs. Glassyd said, turning to Lily, who clung on to Harry. "We were dead with worry. You were standing right beside us, and next thing we know you were gone, you could at least have told us where you were going to." Lily nodded.

"Hi," said Ginny, announcing her arrival. The group turned around and saw her standing with Fred, George, Percy, Bill and Charlie. Next to them were Sean, Nora's older brother, and Kate, Dean's older sister. Kate looked very teary. Even though Dean's parents had been Muggles, their children were wizards or witches.

"Hi," they all replied. Sean stepped forward and gave his little sister, Nora, a big hug. It took her all of her strength to not burst out in tears right there and then. When he was done Kate gave Nora a quick hug. Percy, Bill and Charlie were all giving Ron a pat on the back. Fred and George on the other hand ruffled his hair and gave him such strong hugs that he almost suffocated if it hadn't been for Mrs. Weasly who pulled the three apart: Fred and George laughing and Ron gasping for air.

"Seriously, you two might kill him one of these days," Mrs. Weasly scoffed. The twins looked at her offended.

"And lose our favorite test-subject? Never!" said George, clapping Ron hard on the shoulder. Ron glared at him.

"Let's go back up to the castle, shall we?" Mr. Granger said. The castle had been charmed so that all the Muggles could see it too. The others nodded and the big group headed to the castle where Dumbledore stood. They waited a while for everyone else to arrive.

"Now that everyone is here the funeral can start. The coffins have been placed outside beside the Great Lake, as it would be shame to sit inside with this beautiful weather. If you would all follow me." He walked to the right and headed towards the lake, the large group of students and families following him. As they reached the Lake they saw the forty-eight coffins there, each having a photo of the person in front of it. Each coffin also had a single beautiful white rose on it. On one side stood a vase full of white roses. A few people walked over to it, took one rose and let it fall into the lake, watching it float on the clear blue water; the ice had melted overnight, now that the temperature was rising.

Nora walked over to the vase, took a white rose, kissed it and then let it fall into the softly moving water. She stood there for a few minutes, just watching it lie on the water, nothing disturbing it. Someone stopped and stood beside her. The person lifted the hand that held a rose and Nora saw Kate's golden wedding ring. Her hand opened and the rose was carried away by the wind, landing almost next to Nora's.

"At least he died in battle," Kate said softly. Nora nodded. Beside them more people were throwing the flower into the water.

"Yes," was all she could say. Kate took Nora's hand in hers, gave it a tight squeeze and then turned away. Nora stood there for a few more minutes, watching the white roses in the lake, and then turned around too. She walked along the coffins, looking for Dean's. His coffin was somewhere near the middle and the picture in front of it was the one Colin had made in Hogsmeade of Dean and Nora together. The one that she had in a smaller size and that currently lay on top of all her items in her trunk. Nora sat down on the snow in front of Dean's coffin. A few minutes later Harry joined her, Lily still in his arms.

"Lily wants to be with you now," Harry said quietly, kneeling down beside her and setting Lily on the ground next to Nora, who pulled her little sister in her lap.

"Thanks," she said to Harry. He smiled solemnly, gave her a comforting hug and then walked off to Ron.

"Is this Dean?" Lily asked, pointing at the picture. Nora nodded, tears forming in her eyes. "Is that you, he's kissing?" Nora nodded again; a tear rolled slowly down her cheek. "He's handsome," Lily stated. Nora nodded yet again, sobbing into her hand, shaking as she wept. She hugged her little sister tightly, hoping she would never have to go through this.

Dumbledore stood up in front of everyone, ready to carry out his speech.

"Ashes to Ashes. Dust to Dust," he began. Everyone listened intently to Dumbledore who explained the events that had happened and then talked a little about professor Spring and the students who had lost their lives. His entire speech lasted an hour and when he was done he told them that there was food in the Great Hall, for those who were hungry.

"Come," Nora told Lily, quickly wiping her tears away. They had been sitting in front of Dean's coffin throughout the whole speech and she had cried the entire time. "Let's go have a bite to eat." Lily nodded and picked her up again.

"First we have to find Harry," Lily said. Nora sniffed and then laughed slightly.

"It's like you're in love with him," she said softly. Lily looked at her sister, with her round, inspecting eyes.

"I was." Nora stopped.

"What, you liked Harry? I never knew."

"Well I never told you. Now keep walking, I'm hungry."

"Yes, your majesty," Nora said sarcastically, picking up her pace. They entered the Entrance Hall and Lily's jaw dropped as Nora set her down.

"It's so huge," she said, looking around. Nora sighed and looked around, knowing she'd never be able to look at Hogwarts in the same way again.

"Wait until you see the Great Hall. You'll love the ceiling," she said, entering the Great Hall, taking Lily by the hand.

"Oooooooooooooh." Lily said in aw, looking up at the ceiling.

"Look there's Harry, sitting at the Gryffindor table. Beside that are the Ravenclaws, then the Hufflepuffs, and at that end are the Slytherins," Nora said, pointing at each house table as she called out the names.

"Is it just me, or are all of those Slytherins ugly and mean looking?" Nora smiled weakly and was about to reply when someone cut in.

"Who's the little one?" came Draco's voice. She turned to look at him.

"Draco, meet my little sister, Lily. She'll be attending Hogwarts next year."

"Nice to meet you," Draco said to Lily, and Nora saw a very pained expression in his eyes that she couldn't explain. She looked at Lily.

"Draco's in Slytherin, he's not so bad." Lily surveyed Draco critically.

"I see. Well, he certainly looks a lot better than the rest. Now can we go to Harry?" she asked impatiently. Nora sighed again.

"Would you stop nagging already? Bye Draco," she said quietly, and then turned around hearing Draco mutter: "Looks like Potter's got another fan," before he, too, left.

"Hi, Harry. She wouldn't stop nagging at my head that she wanted to see you. Please, please, _please_ take her," said Nora threateningly. Harry laughed and Lily sat next to him. She was very astounded about Hogwarts. Of all the stories she had heard from her brother and sister she imagined it to be very wonderful, but it was even better. It already felt like a second home to her.

After Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Lily had eaten, the four Gryffindors took Lily for a walk along the grounds. They wanted to show her as much as possible.

"Oh, can we also make a stop by Hagrid's? He asked me to come yesterday, but I didn't have time," Harry asked.

"Sure," the others answered and they turned their direction and headed towards Hagrid's instead.

"Who's there?" came Hagrid's gruff voice when they knocked on his door.

"It's us, Hagrid," Harry called out. Fang immediately began barking when he heard Harry's voice and they could hear Hagrid calling his dog back, before opening the door.

"'Ello, come on in, come on in. Oh, 'n' who's this?" He asked as he spotted Lily, who was holding Harry's hand and gazed at the half giant in aw, her jaw dropping open.

"This is my little sister, Lily," Nora told Hagrid. Lily seemed tiny compared to him.

"'Ello, Lily. Me name's Rubeus Hagrid and I'm the Keeper of the Keys and the Gamekeeper 'ere at Hogwarts. And the Care of Magical Creatures teacher." He held out his very large hand and Lily shook it with her small one. They all sat down in front of the fire, Fang drooling all over Harry's robes.

The meeting with Hagrid was very pleasant and before they knew it, it was four o'clock and they had to go back to the castle. Hagrid and Fang accompanied them.

"I hope everyone enjoyed this day and everyone have a safe trip home. The Hogwarts students will leave for their destination in about an hour," Dumbledore said. Every student said good-bye to their families and gave a lot of hugs. At a quarter to five all the relatives had left and the groups received a piece of parchment with instructions from their Head of House. Nora stood with Padma, Justin and Draco looking at it, feeling empty, lonely, shattered and confused as to why this had happened to her.

"So we leave Hogwarts at quarter past five by portkey and arrive at the airport," Nora said.

"Right," said Justin. "And then we take the plane at gate seven to Australia."

"And then we look for the Holiday Inn there," Padma said.

"And there we have to… draw a kangaroo? What kind of ridiculous task is that?" asked Draco, frowning.

"I don't know. But our trunks will be in the hotel when we arrive there. So all we do now is wait," Justin said.

* * *

_A/N_: That is the longest chapter I have written so far. It took me a while to write, but I hope you like it. And I have a beta reader now, Thespy, YAY! 


	21. The Start of the Trip

**Chapter 21: The Start of The Trip**

The different groups from every year stood on the Hogwarts grounds, waiting for their departure. Both groups 1a and 1b would leave at five o'clock exactly. 2a and 2b would leave at quarter past five, 3a and 3b at five-thirty, 4a and 4b at quarter to six and the left over groups at six o'clock.

"Nora, Nora!" Hermione shouted as she ran over to where Nora stood, staring lonely at the Lake. Padma and Justin were talking animatedly together and Draco sat in the shadow of a large tree, alone. Nora turned around and was nearly knocked over by Hermione. "Oh, I'm going to miss you so very much!" Hermione said, her eyes brimming up with tears; after all, they weren't going to see each other for more than five months and she couldn't just leave her best friend after Dean's death. Who would take care of Nora when Hermione was gone?

"Yes, I know, I'll miss you too! But we'll owl, won't we?" Nora asked, crying like Hermione and still hugging her.

"Yes, of course! But only at night; McGonagall said it would be too noticeable if owls kept flying to the hotel rooms and tents," said Hermione, not letting go of her friend. They both fiercely wished Dumbledore hadn't split them up, for they didn't know what to do without the other,

"Yes, all right… Oh, hi Terry," Nora said, rather shyly. Ever since the… incident where Dean had been murdered, she just couldn't bring herself to look everyone straight in the eyes, especially not the students she didn't know as well. "I assume you want her back now, then?" she asked, pointing at Hermione, as Terry walked over. He smiled.

"Well, it would be nice. 'Mione?" He asked.

"Hmmm?"

"We have to leave in about three minutes. Dumbledore has asked everyone to stand by their portkey."

"But I don't want to go without her!" cried Hermione desperately. "Or I'll take you with me!" she said excitedly, turning to Nora.

"I'll miss you so very much," Nora said, wiping away her tears. Hermione pouted.

"I'll miss you loads too. Bye…" And with one last hug, which was just a squeeze, as she hadn't let go of Nora yet, Terry dragged Hermione away. Nora watched them as they stood around their Portkey, an old hat, and whispered animatedly with each other. She continued to watch them, there was nothing else to do, and saw Hermione give her one last encouraging smile before they were pulled away into the wizards hat. Then the hat vanished too, and Nora was just staring at empty space, feeling that now two people had been taken from her.

"What's so interesting?" asked a voice.

"Oh, nothing. I was just waving Hermione off," said Nora quietly, looking at Draco and then almost immediately looking away again. Draco could not understand why she was acting this way… as if she was shy.

"Well, we have to leave in about fifteen minutes and McGonagall's asked us to grab a bag with food." Draco turned to leave and led Nora to Padma and Justin, who were standing in front of a table loaded with backpacks. Nora gazed at the table for a while and then grabbed a red one while Padma took a yellow one, Justin a blue one and Draco chose a green one as Padma had taken the last yellow bag. (A/N: yellow is Draco's favorite color, remember? If not, read chapter 6 again. Or don't… whatever.)

"How many more minutes?" Nora asked, eyebrows furrowing as she tried hard not to cry, though she wished she could just burst out in tears; at least then she could relieve herself for a short while of all the emotions that kept bubbling up inside her.

"Seven," Draco said, glancing at his magical watch.

"Thanks," said Nora, and then she ran off, leaving her group members behind looking very stunned. Draco was about to run after her, but then saw that she was heading towards Harry and Ron.

"Hi," Harry said warmly, trying to see how she was doing. "What are you doing here?"

"I c-came to say g-goodbye," Nora gasped, trying hard to breathe. When her heart had stopped pounding against her chest she gave Harry and Ron a big hug each, as if she'd never see them again. When she looked back at her group Draco was tapping his watch impatiently. "I'm so sorry. I have to go now. Bye. I'll miss you both, very much," she told them. Harry and Ron nodded before she sprinted away again, the two boys watching her in worry.

"I just wanted to say goodbye," Nora said, when she finally reached her group again.

"I noticed. Grab the boot," Draco said distantly, feeling a tad jealous without even knowing why.

"Are you all right?" Justin asked him.

"Oh, yes. I feel perfect," Draco replied, somewhat sarcastically. The four of them were now holding on to the old boot that was their portkey. In less than a minute they would be at the airport and go on a plane that would take them far away from their friends and safety. Nora looked over at Harry and Ron, who she wouldn't see for the rest of the year, and saw that they were still looking at her. She gave them a weak, little smile, which they returned with a worried one, and then felt the familiar tug at her bellybutton before she lost view of her friends.

The four landed with a hard crash on a cold stone floor in an abandoned part of the airport and fell over. When they stood up, Nora and Justin looked around at the familiar sightings of an airport. Padma and Draco just looked confused.

"And what is this?" Draco asked, peering around.

"This would be an airport," Justin answered as he and Nora began walking.

"And this thing will take us to Australia?" Padma questioned in disbelief. Justin shook his head, laughing.

"No. An airplane will take us to Australia, not the airport," he said.

"I see. And what exactly is and airplane?" Draco asked.

"You'll see," said Nora, in the quite voice she used a lot nowadays. "What gate do we have to be at?" she asked Justin.

"Gate seven. I think it's over there," Justin replied, pointing to the right. "Hold on, let's look at those signs first." He walked over to a large board. "Yes, it's over there." He and Nora began walking again, Padma and Draco trailing behind. They rounded a corner and knew they were on the right track. The hall was filled with people who bustled about, in and out of shops.

"We go right here, right?" Justin asked

"Yes," replied Nora and they took a right turn. After a lot of walking and whining from Padma and Draco they finally reached Gate seven.

"At last!" Draco said, and he plopped down in one of the plastic chairs.

"Draco?" Nora asked, after having heaved a large and weary sigh.

"Hmmm?"

"Up you get."

"What? No. I want to stay seated!" He whined.

"In the plane are better seats, and you can even sleeeeeeep," Nora said, tugging slightly at his arm, trying to get him up.

"All right," Draco muttered and he got off the chair, causing Nora, who had still been tugging at his arm, to fall on the floor. Draco helped her up, laughing. She just glared at him in return, having fallen hard on her pride, if there was any left… after the… incident.

"Now we just give our tickets and then we're on the plane." Justin told Padma who had asked how much longer it was. The four walked forward and gave their flight tickets to the woman on duty. After Padma had received her ticket back she asked Justin:

"Are we on the plane yet?" Justin laughed uncomfortably as the lady, who was now handing Nora her ticket back, gave Padma a lightly befuddled look. He replied:

"Not yet. We have to walk just a little bit more. She's never traveled by plane," He added, turning to the woman. She gave a small nod, but continued to glance at Padma. When Draco, too, had been handed his ticket they walked down the little hallway and into the plane. Padma and Draco, who had never used Muggle transportation looked around.

"And you're sure this thing _flies_?" Draco asked Nora as they headed towards their seat. Nora smiled sweetly at the Muggles who had turned to look at the blond boy and used the same excuse Justin had:

"He's never traveled by plane," she assured them. A few people looked away, but some kept staring. When they had finally taken their seats, Nora hit Draco hard on the arm. "You have the mind of a flobberworm!" she hissed. "You know it'll be very noticeable if you keep asking stupid, obvious questions!"

"I was just very curious," Draco huffed back. On Nora's left, Justin was scolding Padma for the same thing.

"But you said…" Padma started.

"I know what I said. But this isn't the magical world, you can't expect to be on the plane as soon as you receive back your ticket."

"But that's what you said!" Padma argued, pouting. She didn't like the Muggle world at all.

"Oh never mind." Justin turned to look out of the window, instead of argue with Padma. Padma turned to Nora, who sat beside her, and asked what that thing was in front of her.

"That's a small television. Every seat has one in the back, so you can watch T.V. when you're bored."

"Interesting. How does it work?" asked Padma. Nora showed her how it worked and when she was done, Draco asked the same thing and she showed him.

"Are we there yet?" Draco asked. Nora had to laugh silently at this, despite the way she felt at the moment: exhausted, lonely, broken… and incomplete.

"Draco," she said, shaking her head slightly.

"What?"

"It's a ten hour flight."

"Oh."

"And we're not even flying yet."

"Oh?" Nora reached to grab her bag, looking for something interesting to do. She had wanted to bring a book, but reading in planes or cars always gave her a headache. There was nothing in her bag except for a lot of food, some extra parchment, a bottle of ink, a list of tasks, a contact device, a packet of exploding snap and a bag of Muggle and Wizard money. She kind of wanted to play exploding snap, but since she was in a plane full of Muggles she decided against it and instead grabbed the headphones on her right and decided to listen to some music instead. And while listening to music seemed to make her troubles wash away the instantly flooded back when two hands grab her right arm. She opened her eyes and looked into the frightened face of Draco.

"What?" she asked worriedly, taking her headphones off.

"What's that feeling?" he asked in fright.

"It's just the plane moving, don't worry." Draco let out a sigh and loosened his grip. When the plane began moving faster, however, he squeezed her arm again.

"I'm… kind of scared," he whispered. Nora gazed at him, thinking he looked rather fragile and cute, though she knew he wouldn't have admitted it to anyone else.

"Don't be. Once we're in the air you won't even notice we're flying." She looked at Draco comfortingly. He looked so fragile now, so frightened, almost not at all like a Malfoy. Nora put her left hand on his hands, trying to soothe him a bit. It helped slightly but as the plane lifted into the air he began to tense up again. Nora heard quick breaths coming from the left and she knew Padma was feeling just as scared as Draco. She could hear Justin talking to her, trying to take her mind off of the flight. Suddenly, an idea sprang to mind.

"Why don't you listen to some music? It might help you feel better." She leaned over him and grabbed his headphones, which she then put on his head. After about a song or two, Draco let go off Nora's arm and was humming with the current tune. Padma had started watching T.V. with Justin and Nora had fallen into an irregular and uneasy sleep.

* * *

Hermione and her group landed hard on the ground and they all fell over. As Hermione stood up and brushed the dirt off of her clothes she saw the familiar King's Cross building.

"Where do we go now?" Hannah asked, looking at her group members

"We go to platform three and take the train to Paris," Terry answered. He grabbed Hermione's hand and went inside. Hermione wasn't really paying attention and just let Terry drag her around. She was a little homesick, already. She wouldn't see three of her best friends for the rest of the year. Yes, she was with Terry, but that didn't make the lonely feeling go away. She had no one to have girl talk with. All right, she had Hannah, but she didn't know her that well and so she wouldn't be able to spill her secrets to her like she did with Nora. Sure, she could write it in a letter to Nora, but that wasn't very safe, was it? It might get intercepted and then some creep would know too. And Nora… Hermione was afraid her best friend wouldn't be all right. What if something happened to her? What if she sank into a deep depression because of what happened, who would be there to take care of her? To comfort her? To make her feel better?

"Honey?" Hermione was dragged out of her thoughts by Terry's concerned voice.

"Hmmm?"

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine." As Hermione gazed into Terry's eyes she felt her troubles begin to drain away, but when he turned his head to see if the train was coming yet, they flooded back in, leaving her quite desperate.

"There it is," Timothy said a bit bored, pointing to a train that was nearing them. Timothy was the Slytherin in their group and they didn't know if he could be trusted or not. So far he wasn't that bad but they'd have to wait and see.

"Come on, 'Mione," Terry said, tugging at her arm. Hermione followed him slowly into the train and they entered the first empty compartment they could find. The two sat across from each other. Hannah seated herself next to Hermione and Timothy sat beside Terry.

"So…" Terry said, trying to start up a conversation. "What task will we be doing in Paris?" Hannah took out the list in her bag and looked at it.

"We have to… eat baguettes and drink coffee?" she said, unsure if it really was the task or some kind of prank. Timothy grabbed the parchment out of her hands and stared at it.

"It really does say that… What kind of a task is this? I expected questions about the culture or that we had to learn to speak French. At least something slightly more… intellectual than food."

"Well, maybe we have to see if French food is different from English food and how," said Hermione.

"Maybe… but it's still stupid," Timothy muttered.

"Do we have to change trains at any point?" Hermione asked. Hannah shook her head. "Good."

"Hermione?" Hannah asked quietly.

"Hmmm?" said Hermione, turning her head to look at the blond girl beside her. Hermione was a bit confused by the look Hannah had in her eyes.

"I'm scared," whispered Hannah, so that Terry and Timothy wouldn't hear. Hermione was shocked.

"Uhm… well… don't be. You're perfectly safe here," she whispered back, trying to think of comforting things to say.

"But what If the Death Eaters come here? No one will be able to protect us." A nasty thought entered Hermione's head and she had no idea where it came from. '_No wonder she's in Hufflepuff._'

"First of all, Death Eaters won't come here, it'd be taking too much risk. Second of all we can protect ourselves. You were in the DA too, you were very good. And third of all we have the contact devices. Don't worry," she said. Hannah leaned back in her seat, not too reassured. Hermione decided to just talk away, maybe they would get to know each other better.

"So… excited about Paris?" Hannah's face lit up.

"Definitely. I'm going to do loads of shopping there. Wanna join me?"

"Sure! I need some new clothes anyway and Paris _is_ the best place to get them," Hermione said, glad her plan had succeeded. Hannah nodded her head in agreement.

A while later the two girls were still jabbering about Paris and clothes and Terry and Timothy had taken up to talking about the Death Eaters at Hogwarts and who had died that they had been close to.

* * *

Harry and Ron watched the retreating form of Nora. They were both thinking the same thing: will they ever see her and Hermione again? They saw Nora talk to her group members and then, reluctantly, grab an old boot that was probably their portkey. Harry and Ron saw her look at them one last time before she disappeared. Their hearts sank. The Gryffindor four would be split up for the rest of the year.

"I have a funny feeling in my stomach," Ron stated. Harry looked at him.

"Me too."

"What is it?"

"Love, I suppose."

"What? No way!" Ron never had been too good with feelings.

"Don't get too worked up about it: it's friendly love."

"Oh, thank Merlin." Ron sighed in relief.

"I'll miss them… a lot."

"Me too." They stood there in silence for a further ten minutes before Parvati and Lavender came over.

"How're you guys holding up?" Parvati asked.

"Fine." The two boys sighed.

"I sure hope you act that way whenever I'm not there," Lavender told Ron playfully. He kissed her on the cheek. She always made him smile, and she could even make him stop feeling miserable.

"Come, we have to grab our portkey Harry," Parvati said. She gave Lavender a big hug and then walked off with Harry to Crabbe and Crystal-Rose.

"Us too, Ron," Lavender said after Parvati's hug and they left to meet Goyle and Mandy. Ron was deep in thought about the way Parvati and Lavender had said goodbye to each other, and the way Hermione and Nora had. To him, it seemed as if Parvati and Lavender hadn't really felt too sad about saying goodbye, but then he remember that they were both going to the same places and he felt sorry for his two friends that they'd have to be apart for the rest of the year. As Harry and Ron felt the familiar tug at their bellybutton they looked at each other. Both of them smiled and then chuckled. It had been exactly as Nora and Hermione had done it: one last look before they left.

When Harry and his group landed, they found themselves lying at Hogsmeade station. From there they were supposed to take the train from platform one and go to London.

"All right, let's go," Harry said. He got up and walked inside the station, the rest following him. It was a ten minute wait before the train finally arrived and when it did they were able to get a compartment all to themselves. Crystal-Rose and Parvati were talking about the trip and Harry and Goyle were talking about… classes. Imagine that: not Quidditch but an intellectual subject that Harry had always thought Goyle knew nothing about. They were discussing Transfiguration when the train took off.

* * *

When Ron and his group fell to the floor they were already in London and all they had to do was look up the hotel they were staying in.

"Which way?" asked Lavender, who was not good with maps at all.

"Don't ask me, I always get lost using a map," Mandy replied.

"And I thought you were a Ravenclaw," Lavender teased. Mandy smiled.

"I am, I'm just not very good reading maps," she replied, shrugging. "The sorting hat did try putting me in Hufflepuff, but it decided against that. And I'm quite glad too," she added, whispering. Lavender smirked.

"I know what you mean. But I don't think it's that bad. Better than Slytherin anyway."

"That's because everyone sees Slytherin as the Voldemort and Death Eater house. It's really not that bad, not if you know the right people and act the right way," Goyle cut in. Mandy and Lavender looked at him in shock.

"Oh please, we all know your father went to Azkaban because he's a Death Eater," Mandy told him.

"That doesn't make me a Death Eater, does it?"

"Then how come you acted like one all of these years?" Lavender asked, not believing a word Goyle was saying.

"Because of his father," Ron said slowly, thinking of Nora and Draco. His three group members looked at him.

"What?" Lavender and Mandy asked.

"His father made him."

"And how do you know?" Mandy questioned, not believing that a Gryffindor would take the side of a Slytherin.

"It's the exact same story why Draco isn't being such a nosy snobbish know-it-all anymore, isn't it," Ron replied simply.

"And how do we know Draco isn't just acting it all up?" Lavender asked. Ron thought for a second, before replying confidently:

"I trust Nora on that."

"What?" Mandy and Lavender asked, again at the same time.

"I trust Nora on that. She says she can see that he's not acting and that he's really a nice person… and I believe her," said Ron.

"What if he's put her under some spell?" asked Mandy, hands on her hips.

"Draco wouldn't do that," Goyle said, turning the attention of the other three on him.

"Why should we believe you?"

"Look, I had to act like a Death-Eater-to-be because of my father. If I didn't he would probably kill me."

"What?" the other three exclaimed.

"He'd kill you just because you don't want to be a Death Eater?" Lavender asked. Goyle nodded.

"How come you acted like you were stupid, too?" questioned Mandy.

"So that I wouldn't attract too much attention, like Draco did. I didn't want people asking me too much questions, for fear that I accidentally revealed something they're not supposed to know of."

"Now that that's cleared up, can we please find the Hotel? It's pretty cold out here," Ron said. The others nodded and Ron and Goyle led the way, reading the map, as neither of the two girls knew how.

* * *

Harry and his group arrived at King's Cross late that night and immediately started search for their Hotel, feeling very tired. It didn't take them as long as Ron and his group, who had gotten lost a few times. They checked in and were each given a key to their suite-like room. As they entered it they stood in a small hall with a coat rack, which led to a nice living room with a large sofa and a television. On the left were two doors that led to two bedrooms, each with two separate beds, and on the left was another door that led to the large bathroom. Their trunks were already waiting in their rooms. Harry and Crabbe entered one room, Parvati and Crystal-Rose taking the other one. They fell asleep almost at once.

* * *

Hermione and Hannah were both asleep, their heads leaning on each other. They had talked most of the ride to Paris about shopping and had really gotten to know each other. Hermione now knew that, if she had a problem, she could go to Hannah with it. The big problems she'd write in code to Nora, though. Terry watched his girlfriend with an amused little smile on his face. She looked so beautiful and fragile there that all he wanted to do was hold her and kiss her. The train began to slow down and he got up to wake the two girls. It took a while before they were fully awake and were ready to get off the train. As they stood outside they smelled the fresh air.

"What time is it?" Hannah asked.

"Four in the morning. We'd better hurry, I want to get some sleep," Timothy said. The others agreed and off they were. They found their hotel fairly quickly. Their room looked like the suite Harry and his group had. They found their trunks in their room and they got dressed into pajama's as fast as they could, dozing off as soon as their heads touched the pillow.

* * *

Nora and her group were still in the plane. Nora was watching 'Nightmare on Elm Street'. Padma and Justin were asleep, Padma's head on Justin's shoulder, and Draco was listening to music. It was completely dark around the plane as it flew over Asia. Nora gasped in fright as a girl in the movie got out of bed due to a soft tapping noise on the window.

"Nora?" She gave gasped again, but calmed down when she saw it was Draco.

"What? You scared the bloody hell out of me, you know?" she asked, trying to calm her racing heart down; she never really liked watching scary movies, but she needed the distraction so badly.

"I want to keep my hand," Draco told her. Nora looked puzzled. What kind of information was that?

"Excuse me?" She asked confused.

"And in order to keep my hand, it needs blood." Nora frowned at him. She had no idea where this conversation was going and wondered if it was just something he came up with so that he could talk to her.

"And in order for my hand to get blood, you need to let go of my wrist." Nora looked down in shock and saw both her hands clutching Draco's. She immediately let go, embarrassed.

"So sorry," she whispered, blushing, before turning to the movie. Draco shook his left hand a little so his blood would get running again, before listening to music again.

When the plane finally landed it was ten o'clock in the morning, at least in Australia. They hurried through the airport wanting to get into a soft bed as soon as possible.

"Should we take a cab? I'm really too tired to walk," Padma asked her group.

"Me too," Nora agreed. Draco and Justin nodded and the four stepped up to a cab waiting for a passenger. After twenty minutes they were finally at their hotel and Draco checked in for them. Their room was on the fifth floor and they took the elevator up, almost falling asleep right then and there. When they entered their room they couldn't wait to get into a comfortable bed. Nora and Padma immediately took the nearest room, leaving Justin and Draco with the other one. Padma fell asleep immediately, but for some reason Nora couldn't. After a while she got up and went into the bathroom to get a drink. When she came back into the living room she shivered. One of the windows was open and her shorts and long t-shirt weren't exactly warm. She took one step towards the window to close it but stopped. She'd heard something. Because all of the curtains were closed, blocking out almost all of the light, it was incredibly dark in the room and she couldn't see very well, which only scared her more. Nora listened closely. She heard a soft tapping noise on the window. She gasped and dropped her glass. It was exactly like Nightmare on Elm Street. Just then Draco came running in, in just his boxers.

"What happened? What's the matter?" He asked her urgently, gazing intently at her through the dark, as though he had expected something to happen before now. All Nora could do was stare at the window; afraid Freddy Krueger might jump in at any minute. Draco walked over to her. He could see she was shivering furiously. "What happened?" he asked, a bit softer now. Nora opened her mouth but nothing came out. She pointed at the window. Draco looked at it.

"Look, I'm really bad at charades, could you just tell me?" Nora shook her head. At that moment she heard the soft tapping noise again and began shaking. It was all too frightening for her; apparently she did not handle scary movies very well. Draco understood the problem.

"Here, sit," he said, guiding her to the sofa. She sat down, curling her feet underneath her, frowning in confusion and sadness, and Draco walked over to the window and closed it. "I'll get you something to drink, all right?" He made to walk to the bathroom but Nora grabbed his arm. She did _not_ want to be left alone now.

"Stay," she whispered. Draco hesitated, but then sat down next to her. Nora grabbed his arm and held it tightly, crying silently. She knew she was acting childishly, but she really was terrified and because it was so dark, everything seemed scarier than usual. And she felt helpless. She felt helpless and she didn't know what to do anymore. Slowly she fell asleep. Draco stroked her hair before conjuring a blanket with his wand, which he always kept with him. After a short while he fell asleep too, though looking highly confused.

Nora was having yet another dream with Dean in it. It had started out normal, she had been swimming in the ocean with Hermione, the giant squid and a Unicorn, and then, all of a sudden, Dean had come into view.

"It has started," he had said, and then he had disappeared.

She was woken that morning… or rather, evening at seven o'clock by Padma who was gazing peculiarly at her. Nora looked to her left, wondering what that soft warm thing was she had been sleeping on and noticed it was Draco. Subconsciously she understood what Dean had said, but it didn't tell her conscience that. It had meant that her love for Draco had started, which her sub-conscience found absolutely ridiculous.

Nora got up very slowly not wanting to wake up Draco.

"You want to call room-service and order some food here? I really don't feel like going out to eat," Padma told Nora quietly. Nora nodded and went into her room to change. They all had a major jet lag now and it was going to take some time to overcome. Nora came back into the living room in shorts and a tank-top as it was summer here now, and went over to the phone where Padma was sitting, waiting very impatiently. The two girls ordered everything that looked or sounded even the slightest bit tasty and it was brought up to their room just as Justin and Draco were both getting up. Padma and Nora, both dressed, brought the food over to the two boys who were sitting on the couch, both still in their sleeping things.

They had already planned what they would be doing that evening: nothing. They would just stay here in the Hotel and see what they could do here.

* * *

_A/N_: Good? I've decided to write a bit about Harry, Ron, Hermione and Nora's trip for now, but I might decide against it later; I might run out of ideas. 


	22. Jokes

_A/N_: This chapter is pretty long, mostly because I've put in some jokes. Hope you like it.

**Chapter 22: Jokes**

Harry woke up the morning after their train ride due to Parvati poking him in the ribs.

"What?" He said groggily, annoyed at being woken up.

"Don't take that tone on me, mister. Now get up; we're going downstairs to have breakfast," Parvati told him as she took his bedcovers and pulled them off the bed. Harry got up very grudgingly and began to dress while Parvati left his room to tell the others he was coming. Harry was done in less than a minute, there was no need to brush his hair, and the four took the elevator downstairs to grab a bite to eat. When they entered the large breakfast room they saw Ron and his group already sitting to their right by the window. They decided to head over and see if they could sit with them.

"Hey, Harry, mate!" Ron said when they walked over.

"Hey, mind if we sit?" Harry asked. Ron shook his head and Harry, Crabbe, Crystal-Rose and Parvati pulled up a chair and joined the other group. A loud chatter almost immediately broke out.

"Does anyone know what our task is, here in London?" Parvati asked the two groups.

"I do," Mandy said. Parvati turned to look at her, her expression hopeful.

"Really? What is it? Because I thought we might do it together."

"We have to see how Muggle London is different from Wizard London. I want to go with the whole group, too, but I think eight teenagers would attract a bit too much attention." Mandy said. Parvati thought this over for a second.

"We could split up into girls and boys." The others agreed to this idea.

After breakfast the two teams split up, the boys going one way, the girls another.

"I bet all they're going to do is shopping," Ron muttered to Harry, who nodded, as the two darkly watched Crystal-Rose, for she was the one who had once stolen Dean from Nora and broken her heart. The four boys turned a corner and walked into a busy street.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Harry asked.

"Well, I've always wanted to see what kind of sports Muggles play," Crabbe said, speaking up. Goyle, who was walking beside him, nodded.

"Yeah. Besides, there's nothing else to do, so we might as well check out what kind of food they have," said Goyle. Ron rolled his eyes.

"Is that really all you two do? Eat?" He asked. The two Slytherins nodded.

"I could take you to McDonalds, afterwards," Harry said.

"To McWhat?" asked Ron, turning to Harry.

"It's this fast food restaurant. I, personally, really like it. It's how Dudley got so fat, along with the junk Aunt Petunia buys for him."

"Sounds good," Goyle said. Crabbe nodded.

"You want to go in here?" Harry asked pointing to a large store called 'Perry Sport'. The others shrugged and nodded. They entered it and Ron, Crabbe and Goyle looked around amazed.

"Wow. Who knew Muggles could build things like this without magic," Goyle said.

"Yeah, how they get around without magic beats me," Crabbe told his friend as he walked further into the store.

"Would you guys act a bit more normal, people will get suspicious," Harry whispered urgently. The three boys immediately closed their mouths and strained their eyes hard, trying not to let them wander too much. "Over here," Harry said and he led them over to an area where basketballs, soccer balls, hockey pucks, and lot's of other stuff lay.

"What's this?" Ron asked. He picked up a basketball threw it on the ground and ducked quickly out of the way as it bounced back up, nearly hitting him in the face. "Whew, that was close," Ron told Harry as he wiped his forehead. Crabbe and Goyle sniggered. Ron shot them a nasty glare.

"That's a basketball," Harry told Ron and he began to describe the game. He explained everything that the three pureblood wizards asked about and it took quite a while before Harry could get them out of the store. It was already noon.

"Where to now?" Ron asked, looking around. Harry shrugged.

"Can we go to that food place now?" Goyle asked. Harry laughed, but nodded and he turned a corner. His aunt and uncle had sometimes dragged him to Muggle London, when Mrs. Figg couldn't take him, so he knew the city a bit. When he stopped it was in front of a large building that had a large yellow 'M' on it. Ron, Crabbe and Goyle stared at it. It smelled delicious. Harry could see they were on the verge of drooling.

"Do you all have your money?" he asked. The others nodded. "Let's go, then."

Fifteen minutes later they were sitting at a table by the window eating the delicious food. Harry and Ron had ordered a normal menu and Crabbe and Goyle several. They even managed to finish it all before Harry and Ron were done with their food.

Out on the street again they just walked around and entered several stores. Harry bought a new sweater and a comic book while Ron had purchased a new t-shirt, a six-pack of coca-cola and a bag full of Muggle candy, wondering what it would taste like. Crabbe and Goyle each had a bag of candy, too, a large bottle of coke, fanta and sprite and Goyle had a new shirt along while Crabbe had gotten some new…

"Socks?" Harry asked in disbelief, looking at the bundle that was being held in front of his nose.

"Yeah, I change my socks once a day, and I never seem to have enough," Crabbe told him. "Look, I also bought new underwear. Want to see?" he asked, rummaging through his bag.

"No, that's quite all ri…" Harry quickly said in terror, but before he could finish his sentence Crabbe was dangling a pair of black boxers in front of his nose.

"Look, it has a smiley face on it," he said cheerfully, turning his boxer around. And so it did.

"Er… great," Harry said, backing away. "Now could you put that away? You're attracting a crowd." Crabbe looked around and saw it was true. Passerby's slowed down to watch the group, amused and puzzled expressions on their faces. Crabbe quickly put the boxer back in his bag and blushed a very little bit.

They spent another hour in Muggle London before going to the Leaky Cauldron and checking out Diagon Alley, ready to see the difference between the two London's. They went into Flourish and Blotts and looked at some of the books. Then they went to Zonko's, Eyelops Owl Emporium, the Apothecary and lots of more places until they finally entered the Quidditch store, naturally saving the best for last. They looked around and conclusively decided on staring at the newest and fastest broom, the Lightning Flame, goggling at it.

When it was three o'clock the four boys decided to head back to the Hotel and have another bite to eat. On their way to the Leaky Cauldron, though, Harry saw a little magical jewelry store and he had to go in; he wanted to by something for Parvati. They entered and saw millions of items lying around, glittering. It'd be heaven for a Niffler. Harry and Ron looked around. Ron had decided to find something for Lavender, too, since they were in the shop anyway.

After a long search Ron had found something for Lavender. It was a silver bracelet with little beads that slowly changed colors. From red to orange, from orange to yellow, from yellow to light green, to dark green, to light blue, to dark blue, to purple, to pink and back to red. He bought it for ten sickles and was very proud of his purchase. He was confident Lavender would like it.

Harry, on the other hand, still hadn't found anything and the other three boys decided to help. They searched for what felt like hours before Harry had found something he remotely liked, but he decided it wasn't good enough and continued to search. At quarter past four he had finally bought a gift for Parvati. It was a silver ring that, if she touched the emerald stone on the top that had the exact same color as Harry's eyes, made her feel safe and warm.

They left the store and made there way back to Muggle London. It was very chilly now and snow began to fall. The four boys headed to the Hotel at a quick pace and met the girls along the way. Harry and Ron decided to give their presents now, before they'd forget, and the two girls squealed in excitement. They immediately wore the jewelry and stretched their arms out, admiring it from a distance. They gave their boyfriends a peck on the lips and then the whole group headed to the hotel. Harry and Ron put their arms around Parvati and Lavender who were telling their boyfriends animatedly about what they had done that day. Harry and Ron weren't really paying much attention, it didn't interest them much, but they said things like 'Oh, interesting," and "Uh-huh," whenever the two girls drew breath.

Back in the hotel everyone wrote on a piece of parchment what they had found different between the two London's. Then they changed into something nicer and headed downstairs for a large dinner. It was in a different room than the breakfast room and had small chandeliers hanging above every table and a large one above the dance floor. The two groups chatted animatedly during dinner and worried about nothing. When dinner was finished they remained seated, to rest for a while, and Harry turned to Parvati.

"Care to dance?" he asked, not knowing what he was doing: he couldn't dance. Parvati blushed, but nodded. The two walked over to the dance floor where a few other couples were dancing.

"First the ring, now this. When did you become so romantic?" Parvati asked Harry as they danced to a slow song being played on the piano by an old, little man.

"That… I do not know," he replied. Parvati chuckled. "But you deserve it. I don't think I've known anyone quite like you. You make me feel… special… I think I love you." Parvati gasped, partly in shock, partly in excitement. This was a very important moment… for her at least.

"Oh, I love you too!" she squealed quietly. Lavender and Ron had joined them on the dance floor, along with Crystal-Rose, who he loathed, and Crabbe and Mandy and Goyle. After a few more dances they headed back upstairs to watch a little television, which excited Ron almost more than anything, for Harry had told him so much about the square box with the antenna.

* * *

When all the food was gone, Nora, Padma, Justin and Draco sat for a while thinking of things they would do for the rest of the day.

"We could walk around Canberra for a bit," Justin suggested, but Padma shook her head.

"No, it's a little too late for that. How about we go for a nice relaxing swim?" she said, looking at her group members hopefully.

"I like that idea," said Nora softly. "Let's go swimming."

"I don't suppose we have a choice, do we?" Draco asked, perhaps a bit unenthused.

"No," Padma stated before joining Nora and entering their bedrooms to grab their swimsuits. They came back out in their normal clothes; having decided to change by the pool, hoping it had changing rooms. Justin and Draco had obviously decided to do the same thing, since they walked out of their room with their swim trunks wrapped in towels. Padma went into the bathroom and grabbed two more towels, one for her and one for Nora.

"Ready to go?" Justin asked. The other three nodded and they went out of their room and headed into the elevator.

"What floor?" Nora asked, holding her finger in front of the button panel.

"-1" Justin said, reading the small information board.

"No! I wanna push the button!" Draco said, and he batted Nora's hand away before quickly pressing the '-1' button, looking very smug with himself.

"Baby," Nora muttered. Padma was trying hard not to laugh out loud, but couldn't help herself. Draco just glared at her. The elevator gave a little 'bing', indicating that they had reached floor –1, and they stepped into a large hall with a few potted plants. On the left was a door with a pink woman on it and on the right was door with a blue man on it. That was all the information they needed. Draco and Justin walked to the left and were about to open the door when Padma stopped them.

"Where on earth are you two going?" she asked, frowning.

"The changing room," the two boys replied, with expressions that clearly said: 'Duh'.

"That's fine with me, but we prefer privacy," she said, walking over to them. Padma steered them to the right, saying: "Go change in the men's changing room." The two boys blushed as they saw the pictures of the pink woman and blue man.

"Oops," they muttered, and then walked into the right changing room. Nora and Padma entering the other one. When they were done changing they walked out of the room through a different door than the one they had entered through, and saw that the pool was empty except for Draco and Justin, who were sitting in two seats at the side. Justin, who was wearing a long swim trunk with a touristy Hawaiian print on it, nudged Draco, who's mouth fell open. He gazed at Nora in the same manner as Justin gaped at Padma. Both boys had to work hard to keep their mouths closed tight.

"Are you two going in, or what?" Padma asked them. They nodded and got up. The two girls dove into the water and felt the coolness of it rush passed their bodies. They swam to the surface and took a large gulp of air.

"I love water," Nora stated, trying to forget her worries so she could have a few hours of fun for once. Padma nodded.

"Me too. But wait, where are Justin and Draco?" They looked around but the two boys were nowhere to be seen. Just then they felt something tug at their legs and after giving a short shriek the two girls were pulled under water. They tried to free themselves but whatever it was that was holding them had a pretty tight grip, and a large air supply, because they were already running out. Of course, they hadn't even gotten time to take a breath before being pulled under. Finally they felt the cool air on their faces and the two girls gasped for breath. When they opened their eyes they were looking in the laughing faces of, whom other than… Justin and Draco.

"Boy you should have seen the way you two were thrashing about, you could have killed someone like that," Draco said. Justin laughed in agreement.

"I'll give you something to thrash about," Nora threatened menacingly. Draco gave a girlish little scream and started swimming towards the side as fast as he could, Nora chasing him.

"And what are you laughing at?" Padma asked Justin, one eyebrow raised. Justin's face fell, he gave an even girlier scream than Draco and was soon heading for the side as well, at breakneck speed, Padma following. As Justin climbed out of the pool he saw Draco being beat up by Nora, or well sort of: she was hitting his arms, which he held up to shield himself against her. Padma was about to grab Justin's legs and pull him back in the pool when he decided to try begging.

"Please don't hurt me. Come on, it was funny. Well at least for us," Padma glared at him. "If you don't hurt me I'll buy you loads of Muggle candy tomorrow." Padma stopped advancing on him and thought for a minute.

"All right," she said happily.

"Is it safe for me to enter the pool, then?" Justin asked. Padma nodded, and he dived in. Nora had stopped 'beating' up Draco now, and was instead being chased around by him, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"No! No! I'm very ticklish!" She cried, trying to outrun him, which was difficult, considering the floor was wet and she had to run carefully so as to avoid slipping and cracking her head open on the tiles. In the meantime Justin and Padma were having a contest in the pool: trying to see who could stay underwater the longest, which meant that they couldn't hear and rescue Nora. She looked behind her and stood still. Draco wasn't there anymore. She looked in the pool but he wasn't there either. A rustling sound made her snap her head to the left, and before she could do anything, Draco had charged at her, grabbed her in his arms and jumped into the pool, holding her tightly. Nora felt the cool water touch her skin again and loved it and just when she was beginning to feel the need of air again, she felt Draco pull her to the surface, his arms still around her waist. Nora looked at him, breathing heavily.

"Well, wasn't that fun?" Draco asked her, smiling evilly.

"For you. I suffered a heart attack when you hurtled towards me," she said, pouting.

"That was for all those bruises I'm going to get. There was no need in hitting me so hard," he said, rubbing his arms as if they still hurt.

"You deserved it, you wimp," she answered, looking at Padma and Justin who were swimming laps around the pool now.

"So… I heard you were very ticklish." Nora looked him in the eyes in horror. He had a devilish smirk on his face and she definitely didn't like it.

"Don't… you… dare," she slowly told him. The rest of the hour was spent with Nora and Draco chasing each other, Padma and Justin watching them amused. When the two were finally tired out, they dried off and went back upstairs, Padma and Justin staying behind. The two took turns taking quick showers, trying to get the smell of chlorine out of their hair and then they waited a short while for Padma and Justin to come up, too.

When everyone had had a nice shower and was dressed in some decent clothing they went downstairs to have a rather late dinner.

"Hey!" They heard a voice shout upon entering the beautiful large room. It was Susan Bones. Nora, Padma, Justin and Draco walked over to where she and her group were sitting and asked if they could join. It was a round table and space was easily made. Seamus was talking to Susan about the kangaroo's they had seen that day, and Nora started up a conversation with Padma, who was seated across from her. They had a delicious dinner and during dessert Seamus was talking quietly to Nora, who had sat down beside him. An atmosphere of seriousness hung around them.

"I'm sorry. You two were best friends, right?" Nora said, playing with her ice cream.

"Yeah. But you were his girlfriend. It's a lot harder on you, isn't it? I mean I can eventually make new friends, but finding a new love? That can't be easy," Seamus told her, poking at his pancake.

"I guess. But still, I hope you're not feeling too bad about it."

"I was at first, but it's slightly worn off now. I just feel… numb. You?" He asked.

"Same here. I really miss him," she replied, eyes brimming up with tears.

"Me too. You know, sometimes I even think he's still alive." Seamus' voice trembled.

"I know, and then you realize he isn't and you feel devastated all over again." He nodded.

"Nora?" She turned her head and looked at Draco, quickly wiping her silent tears away. "We're leaving now, are you going to join us?" he asked, almost looking a little pleadingly, as well as sorrowfully. She nodded and got up along with Seamus, who said goodbye to them and then walked off with his group, which had been waiting for him.

"Are we going back up to the room?" Nora asked, trying to sound normal, as she and Draco followed Padma and Justin out of the dining room. Draco nodded. When they entered their suite the four sat down on the sofa and chairs.

"So what shall we do now?" Justin asked.

"Oh! I know! We could tell jokes!" Padma shouted, excitedly. She glanced at Nora, but the two boys didn't notice. She knew what was troubling Nora, it was ever so obvious, and hoped that telling jokes would take the poor girl's mind off of things and maybe even get her to laugh a bit.

"All right," Justin said. "Who'll start?"

"I'll go," Nora said. She sniffed and then launched into the story. "It's a bit long: One day at a busy airport, the passengers on a commercial airliner are seated waiting for the pilot to show up so they can get under way.

The pilot and co-pilot finally appear in the rear of the plane and begin walking up to the cockpit through the centre aisle. Both appear to be blind; the pilot is using a white cane, bumping into passengers right and left as he stumbles down the aisle. The co-pilot is using a guide dog. Both have their eyes covered with sunglasses.

At first, the passengers do not react, thinking that it must be some sort of practical joke. After a few minutes though, the engines start revving, and the airplane begins moving down the runway. The passengers look at each other with some uneasiness. They start whispering among themselves and look desperately to the stewardesses for reassurance.

Yet, the plane starts accelerating rapidly, and people begin panicking. Some passengers are praying, and as the plane gets closer and closer to the end of the runway, the voices are becoming more and more hysterical.

When the plane has less than twenty feet of runway left, there is a sudden change in the pitch of the shouts as everyone screams at once. At the very last moment, the plane lifts off and is airborne.

Up in the cockpit, the co-pilot breathes a sigh of relief and tells the pilot: "You know, one of these days the passengers aren't going to scream, and we aren't going to know when to take off."

The others laughed in hilarity, though Padma and Draco were a bit uneasy; this didn't really happen in real life, did it?

"I have one," Padma said, ignoring the uneasy feeling. "A man was wandering around a fairground and he happened to see a fortune-tellers tent. Thinking it would be good for a laugh, he went inside and sat down.

"Ah..." said the woman as she gazed into her crystal ball. "I see you are the father of two children."

"That's what you think," the man laughed. "I'm the father of _three_ children."

The woman grinned and said, "That's what _you_ think!" Padma grinned as Nora chuckled about the joke. Her plan was beginning to work.

"Me now," said Draco. "A man and a woman were having dinner in a fine restaurant. Their waitress, taking another order at a table a few paces away noticed that the man was slowly sliding down his chair and under the table, with the woman acting unconcerned.

The waitress watched as the man slid all the way down his chair and out of sight under the table. Still, the woman dining across from him appeared calm and unruffled, apparently unaware that her dining companion had disappeared.

After the waitress finished taking the order, she came over to the table and said to the woman, "Pardon me, ma'am, but I think your husband just slid under the table."

The woman calmly looked up at her and replied firmly, "No he didn't. He just walked in the door.""

Laughter.

"I've got one," Justin said. "A guy walks into a bar and sits down. He orders six shots of vodka. The bartender asks the man, "Have a rough day?"

The man replies, "Yeah, I found out my younger brother was gay!"

The bartender says, "Man, I'm sorry to hear that. That's awful." The man downs the shots and leaves.

The very next day the same man comes back into the bar and orders six more shots of vodka. Bartender asks the man, "What's wrong today?"

The man replies, "I just found out my older brother is gay."

The bartender says, "Man, I'm sorry to hear that. That's terrible." The man downs his shots and leaves.

He returns again on the third day and again orders six shots of vodka. The bartender asks the man, "Another rough day?"

The man says, "Yeah."

The bartender asks him, "Does anyone in your family like women?"

"Yeah, my wife.""

More laughter.

"Oh, I've got another one," Nora told them. "It's not that great, but, oh well: A new bar opened up in Chicago, and Bob had to go and try it."

"Wait, who's Bob?" asked Draco.

"He's the main character of this joke," Nora said, with a slight expression of 'duh' on her face, before continuing: "The bar was on the observation deck of the Sears Tower.

Bob rode the elevator up an entered the bar. It was very upscale, with the waitresses and waiters in fancy clothing, a real mahogany bar, and a comfortable decor and feel overall. Bob sat at the bar and ordered a beer.

"Hey, buddy," the man next to him said. "Have you heard about the trick of this bar?"

"No," Bob replied.

"Watch this," the other man said. He walked over to the window and stepped outside. Bob, totally aghast at this, ran over to the window, fully expecting to see the man plunging to his death. Instead, to Bob's utter surprise, the man was standing there, totally relaxed and unconcerned. "It's the updrafts," he explained. "They're really strong here. You should try it!"

Bob hastily gulped his beer and stepped out to join the man. Bob screamed as he fell the 104 stories to the ground. He landed in a pile of mattresses and got off without a scratch. But he was so angry that he ran the stairs back up to the bar. He got there, completely out of breath, just in time to hear the bartender say, "You know, you're really mean when you're drunk, Superman."" Her friends laughed and Nora couldn't help smiling.

"I've got another one, too," Draco said. "A woman goes into a funeral home to make arrangements for her husband's funeral. She tells the director that she wants her husband to be buried in a dark blue suit. He asks, "Wouldn't it just be easier to bury him in the black suit that he's wearing?" But she insists that it must be a blue suit and gives him a blank check to buy one.

When she comes back for the wake, she sees her husband in the coffin and he's wearing a beautiful blue suit.

She tells the director how much she loves the suit and asks how much it cost. He says, "Actually, it didn't cost anything. The funniest thing happened. As soon as you left, another corpse was brought in, this one wearing a blue suit. I noticed that they were about the same size, and asked the other widow if she would mind if her husband were buried in a black suit. She said that was fine with her. So... I switched the heads.""

"Aw, gross!" Padma and Nora shouted when Draco was done. He grinned. Justin laughed. To a stranger it looked like they had been friends for years.

"I've got one that isn't so revolting," Nora said, looking at Draco. "There's a man in the doctor's office and the doctor says: "I have good news and bad news."

The man thinks it over and then says: "Go with the good news first."

The doctor clears his throat uncomfortably and then tells him: "You have twenty-four hours to live."

The patient exclaims: "What! How about the bad news?"

Doctor: "Um... I forgot to tell you yesterday.""

Tears of hilarity actually rolled down Padma's cheeks as she laughed, clutching her stomach.

"I-I've got a g-g-good one t-too," she said, through laughs. When she'd calmed down she continued: "A young woman buys a mirror at an antique shop and hangs it on her bathroom door.

One evening, while getting undressed, she playfully says "Mirror, mirror on my door, make my bust-line forty-four."

Instantly, there is a brilliant flash of light and her breasts grow to enormous proportions. Excitedly, she runs to tell her husband what happened and in minutes they both returned.

This time the husband crosses his fingers and says "Mirror, mirror on the door, make my penis touch the floor!"

Again, there's a bright, blinding flash and… both his legs fall off."

Justin nearly fell out of his seat in hilarity, which made the others laugh even more. When he was finally seated properly again he told another joke:

"A guy is at a bar, laughing with friends when he goes over to watch the bar tender. The bar is nice and clean and the bartender is putting down the finishing touches.

The guy goes, "You seem like a bettin' man."

The bartender replies, "Everyday of the week except Sunday." The guy goes "I bet you $500 if I stood on the bar, and you pushed a bar glass under me, I could piss all in it, and not get a wince of it on the bar."

The bartender laughs and says "I'll take you on that bet." So he goes and gets a glass, while the guy is unzipping his pants. "Ready?" The bartender asks and the man replies "FIRE AWAY!" so the bartender pushes the glass and the guy pisses everywhere but in the glass. He zips his pants and the bartender starts laughing, and says, "See boy, it can't be done!" The guy pays him smiling all the way. The bartender asks, "Boy what are you so happy about? You just lost $500."

He replies, "I just bet that man over there $1000 I could piss all over your bar and make you laugh about it!""

Again laughter erupted in the cosy living room.

"Another one," Nora said. She was thoroughly enjoying this by now. "Hillary Clinton died and went to heaven. As she stood in front of Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, she saw a huge wall of clocks behind him. She asked, "What are all those clocks for?"

Saint Peter answered, "Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a Lie-Clock.

Every time you lie, the hands on your clock will move."

"Oh," said Hillary, "whose clock is that?"

"That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved indicating that she never told a lie."

"Whose clock is that?"

"That's Abraham Lincoln's clock. The hands have only moved twice telling us that Abe only told two lies in his entire life."

"Where's Bill's clock?" Hillary asked.

"Bill's clock is in Jesus' office. He's using it as a ceiling fan.""

Justin fell out of his seat again. Draco and Padma were laughing too; apparently they knew who Hillary and Bill Clinton were.

"I've got one, again," Padma stated. "A local florist was having an extremely busy week. Slammed and not having enough help, the florist became flustered. He kept getting his orders mixed up, for one woman received flowers sent by her husband, who was at a business meeting in Florida. She was perplexed by the message on her card:

'Our deepest sympathy.' But she was not nearly as surprised as the woman whose husband had just passed away. Her card read:

'Hotter here than I expected. Too bad you didn't come too.'"

Luckily Justin had remained seated on the floor, because he was rolling all over it.

"I've got a simple one," Draco said after a while of though. "One man said to another, "I didn't sleep with my wife before I got married. How about you?" The other man replied, "I don't know. What was her maiden name?"" Padma snorted.

"Me now," said Justin. "Three friends die in a car crash and they find themselves at the Gates of Heaven. Before entering, they are each asked a question by St. Peter himself, "When you are in your casket and friends and family are mourning upon you, what would you like to hear them say about you?" he asks.

The first guy says, "I would like to hear them say that I was a great doctor and a great family man."

The second guy says, "I would like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and school teacher who made a huge difference in our children."

The last guy replies. "I would like to hear them say... LOOK! HE'S MOVING!""

"Oh! I've got another one!" Padma shouted when the laughter had died down. "A man approached a very beautiful woman in a large supermarket and asked, "You know, I've lost my wife here in the supermarket. Can you talk to me for a couple of minutes?"

"Why?" she asks.

"Because every time I talk to a beautiful woman, my wife appears out of nowhere.""

The room rang with the merry sound of laughter. Outside it was gradually becoming darker as the sun vanished behind the horizon.

"I've got a question and answer one, but it's a bit lame," Nora said.

"Let's hear it."

"What do you call the space between Pamela Anderson's boobs?"

"Dunno," Justin said, waiting to hear the answer.

"Silicon Valley." Justin was the only one who laughed.

"Who's Pamela Anderson?" Draco asked, frowning. Of course they didn't know; they had never lived in the Muggle World.

"Never mind," Nora told him. Suddenly there was a sharp tapping on the window. Draco got up and opened it to find a white owl fly in. It flew immediately to Nora and nipped at her fingers.

"Why hello there, Siberia. You got a letter for me?" The owl hooted and nipped at Nora's fingers again, a bit harder this time. "All right, all right, don't rush me." Siberia made a strange hoot and nipped at Nora's fingers even harder. She now understood that it was urgent. "I'll be back, you guys continue telling jokes, ok?" Her friends nodded and she got up and walked to the bedroom she shared with Padma. "Come, Siberia." The owl flew up and followed Nora into her room. She turned on the light, took a seat on her bed and opened the letter, as Siberia perched herself on her shoulder.

_Dear Nora,_

_I'm sorry to bother you but I don't think I can take it any more! I have no one else to talk to about this; I don't think Hannah could help me with it. I tried telling Terry but I'm afraid he might overreact, like Harry and Ron do whenever we get a new boyfriend or something. Anyway I feel really miserable and I would rather not write this in a letter, but I don't really have a choice._

_In the beginning the trip started out pretty well. Hannah and I had talked for hours and hours. But at the hotel… oh! I can't take it! I wish I could see you! At the hotel the other half of our group, you know 1a, was sitting with us and Pansy deliberately took a seat beside me and she kept whispering awful things to me so no one heard. It was horrible, I felt like a freak on display! Oh, please help me! She kept whispering how she was going to kill me and how I was nothing more than a stupid mudblood that was only ruining other people's lives! I don't know why, but I really believed it all! I wish you were here!_

_Love,_

_Hermione_

_P.S. Please don't tell Harry and Ron, or anyone else._

There were tear stains all over the letter, which made it a bit difficult to read, but Nora managed. She felt awful for Hermione and couldn't believe what a cow Pansy was. She immediately set out to write a response. When she was done she tied it to Siberia's leg, stroked her owl for a few seconds and then let her fly out of the window. She watched Siberia disappear into the darkness before returning to her friends.

"What was that about?" Padma asked.

"Oh, nothing much. Are we still telling jokes?"

"No, we're telling funny slogans now. I've got one," Justin said. "Some days you're the windshield, and some days you're the bug."

"Good one," Nora said, smiling, though inside she was worrying for Hermione. "I've got one that's better: So Many Pedestrians So Little Time."

"Me too," Draco stated. "Save Trees! Eat More Beavers."

"Thou shall not weigh more than thy refrigerator," Padma told them. "Is that even possible?" she then asked, frowning.

"Home is where you park it," said Justin

"Don't piss me off! I'm running out of places to hide the bodies," Nora said, smiling at the other three students surrounding her.

"Bad spellers of the world… UNTIE!" shared Draco.

"Who Are These Kids And Why Are They Calling Me Mom?" Padma told the others.

"I have used up all my sick days so I am calling in dead," said Justin.

"I am not spoiled, I am well taken care of," Draco said. The others snorted and he glared at them. It was just too ironic that _he_ had said it.

"If you can't swim, get out of the gene pool!" said Justin. This continued until it was eleven o'clock and they finally decided to get some sleep. Tomorrow they would go and see where they would be able to draw a kangaroo, though they felt it was too stupid a task to waste their time on.

* * *

After dinner Hermione immediately ran up to her room and fell onto her bed. She was really upset about what Pansy had said. Hermione got up, took a piece of parchment and began to write a letter. When she was done she hesitated. She didn't have an owl to send it with. Just then she noticed Siberia sitting on the windowsill. Hermione smiled a little and gave the owl her letter.

"You take this to Nora now, and hurry up. Do anything so that she reads it right away, ok?" The owl hooted and flew off. Hermione stood and stared outside before deciding to take a long hot bath.

She got into the lovingly warm water and tears poured down her face. The bathtubs and showers were the only place she really cried. No one would notice here. She rinsed herself and hoped Siberia was going to do as she had instructed her too. Hermione really needed a fast reply. She didn't know what to do. Pansy was being such a stupid cow.

When she was done taking a bath and had finished crying, about an hour later, she got out of the tub and dried off before getting dressed and walking into the little living room. Terry stood there.

"Hi, I thought you'd drowned; you were in there for so long," he said. Hermione smiled and walked over to him.

"Where are Hannah and Timothy?" She asked.

"They're with the other group, I thought we might spend a little time together." Hermione smiled as Terry held out his arms. She walked into them and he gave her a comforting hug. He then picked her up and laid her on the couch, lying down beside her. Holding her tightly in his arms again, they stayed like that for the rest of the evening.

Terry had known something was wrong, for Hermione didn't stay in the bathroom that long unless there was something the matter, or she had to get herself ready for a Ball or something. He hadn't been able to think of anything to make her feel better except cuddle with her, but it had been enough. The two fell asleep on the sofa and Hannah and Timothy, who had come back a little late, didn't bother waking them up. Hannah did, however, put a blanket over the two, in case they got cold.

* * *

That morning Hermione woke up to a pair of soft lips on hers.

"Good morning," Terry said, smiling at the precious girl.

"Good morning," Hermione replied, stretching.

"I've got something for you," he told her. Hermione looked at him questioningly.

"What?" she asked. Terry held out his arms and Hermione saw Siberia sitting in his hands. She was shocked; how could the owl have come back so fast? Or maybe Siberia hadn't brought back a reply at all…

"Thanks," Hermione said, and she took Siberia in her room. Hannah wasn't there; she was visiting Ernie McMillan, who was in group 1a, again. Hermione quickly opened the piece of parchment.

_Dear Hermione,_

_I sent this as fast as I could. Siberia wouldn't stop biting my fingers off, by the way. Seriously, you don't have to be sad just because that cow Pansy is jealous. Besides, I see no insult in being called a mudblood. In fact, I always take it as a compliment. Think about it, she's stuck in a rotten pureblood Death Eater family, when you've had two parents who loved you dearly, and one that still does._

_You're also a whole lot smarter than all of the Slytherin purebloods put together. At least you know what electricity is and how a flashlight works. Really, don't be upset, it'll just satisfy her. And whenever she does get you down, just think how you have a loving father, a really huge brain and Terry. Oh and good looks. (Have you ever noticed how ugly Pansy is? It's almost unbelievable.) You've got very good friends too, three of 'em to be exact. Cheer up. I've got a little joke for you:_

_The local bar was so sure that its bartender was the strongest man around that they offered a standing $1000 bet. The bartender would squeeze a lemon until all the juice ran into a glass, and hand the lemon to a patron. Anyone who could squeeze one more drop of juice out would win the money. Many people had tried over time (weight lifters, truck drivers, etc.) but nobody could do it._

_One day this scrawny little man came into the bar, wearing thick glasses and a polyester suit, and said in a tiny squeaky voice "I'd like to try the bet." After the laughter had died down, the bartender said "OK," grabbed a lemon and squeezed away. Then he handed the wrinkled remains of the rind to the little man._

_But the crowd's laughter turned to total silence as the man clenched his fist around the lemon and six drops fell into the glass._

_As the crowd cheered, the bartender paid the $1000, and asked the little man: "What do you do for a living? Are you a lumberjack, a weight-lifter, or what?" The man replied, "I work for the IRS."_

_Hope you like it. Cheer up, please._

_Love,_

_Nora_

_P.S. I'm sorry, but I think you should tell Dumbledore about Pansy. And I'm planning on telling Draco about her; maybe he can threaten her a bit, get her to shut up. If you really don't want anyone to know, I'll keep my mouth shut, but she can't go on like that, someone's got to stop her._

Hermione finished the letter and smiled, laughing at the joke. She wrote back a response, gave it to Siberia and absentmindedly stroked the snowy white bird for a while. This letter had no rush. After a while they headed down for breakfast. Today they would go shopping in Paris and do their task.

* * *

_A/N_: I got all of the jokes from Joke Genie. Hope you liked the chapter. R&R, please. 


	23. Tasks

**Chapter 23: Tasks**

That morning Nora, Padma, Justin and Draco woke up around nine o'clock and were bustling around trying to pack their bags with things they'd need for their little trip around Canberra.

"Where on earth are my quills, parchment and ink?" Nora cried desperately, holding her head with both hands in frustration. Draco and Justin were cowering in a corner. Padma, on the other hand, was too busy yelling herself.

"Where is my right shoe? Who on earth would take my shoe?" She snarled searching the entire room, throwing things upside down in the process.

"Padma?" Justin asked from beside Draco in the corner.

"WHAT?" Padma yelled, turning to look at him. Apparently she got as evil as Parvati when she was frustrated.

"It's in your hand," Justin told her weakly. Padma lifted her right hand up, inspected the shoe in it and said:

"So it is. THEN WHERE THE HELL IS MY LEFT SHOE?" She asked Justin. He quickly shrugged and looked at the floor, not wanting to irritate her any further. Fifteen minutes later Padma and Nora had finally found everything and they were both starting to cool off.

"All right," Padma said, after a deep breath. "Let's go, then, shall we?" she asked the two boys from her position in the doorway with Nora. Justin and Draco quickly nodded and they followed the girls into the elevator.

"You want to push the button, Draco?" Nora asked him, like a mother would speak to her six year old child.

"Yes, please," he replied while vigorously nodding his head. He pressed the '0' button and the elevator started moving. They ate breakfast and then went into the main hall, discussing their plans.

"So first we're going to go and look around Canberra a bit," Justin said.

"And then we can go draw kangaroo's at that place the other group went, what was it called again?" Nora asked.

"Captain Jack's," Justin replied not looking up from the map he was examining. Nora snorted. "Let's go, then." With a nod from the others they exited the Hotel and stood outside in the burning sun.

"It certainly is hot here," Padma said, fanning herself with one hand.

"I feel like I walked into the Sahara. It's never like this in England," Draco said, squinting as the burning sun glared straight at him. They began walking and entered store after store, hardly purchasing anything but finding it interesting to look around. It sure was different from England.

"I want more Muggle candy," Padma said, pouting as she and Justin exited a candy store.

"You've already got a bag full," exclaimed Justin in incredulity. Padma folded her arms. "All right, if you let it go I'll take you to a Muggle café tonight, ok?" Padma thought it over before replying:

"Fine. But it better be good, or else you'll be sorry." Justin nodded and they began walking again. Padma and Draco gaping at the most normal things. At one o'clock they headed towards a cab.

"Captain Jack's Kangaroos, please," Justin said, when everyone was seated. The Taxi-driver nodded and they were off. After a twenty-minute drive they stopped in front of a large building with a tall fence that stretched out of sight both left and right. The four got out and stood in front of the area. There were kangaroos hopping about everywhere and they saw a few caretakers walking around

"What now?" Padma asked, looking at the creatures in amazement.

"Er… I'm not sure," Justin said. Just then one of the caretakers had opened a door in the fence on their right and called out to them.

"Over here," she called. The four walked over to her. "Hi, my name is Lisa, I'm one of the caretakers here. I assume you want to watch the kangaroos?" She asked. Lisa was a woman in her mid twenties with red hair and comforting dark brown eyes. Justin nodded. Lisa stepped aside and let them enter. "I'll just let you walk around, then. The kangaroos are pretty tame so some might even let you pet them. Have fun, then," she said, and then walked off to one of her co-workers.

"So, which one do we draw?" Draco asked.

"I don't know. How about we just walk around first?" Nora replied. The others nodded and they walked towards a small group kangaroos, the burning sun above their heads.

"Good thing I had us all put some sun lotion on," Padma said. Nora nodded. "Oooh! They're so cute! I could just cuddle 'em all!" Padma exclaimed all of a sudden, as they came closer to a baby kangaroo.

"Quiet, woman. You'll scare them away," Justin said, teasingly. Padma slapped him on the arm, but then kept quiet. She got down on her knees with Nora and edged closer to the little kangaroo. It observed them for a few seconds and then hopped closer.

"Oh!" Padma and Nora exclaimed softly as it hopped even nearer. Draco and Justin watched as the two girls petted it, a few more baby kangaroos hopping closer. After fifteen minutes a whole group surrounded the four students and they had gotten out parchment, a quill and some ink so they could accomplish their task.

"Is one of the caretakers watching?" Draco whispered to Nora, who was sitting beside him on the ground.

"I dunno, why?" she replied, not taking her eyes off the little creature in front of her.

"You think they'd mind if I cast a stunning charm on one of these kangaroos?" He asked her.

"What?" Nora exclaimed quietly. "Of course they would! Besides, why would you want to in the first place?"

"Well they won't keep still! How on earth am I supposed to draw them if they keep moving?" He told her. Nora sighed at his childishness, but thought it was somehow cute all the same.

"Just try, Draco. It doesn't have to be a magnificent piece of art," she replied. Draco cursed a little under his breath but started drawing again. After a long while the four students each had a kangaroo drawn on their parchment.

"I'm naming 'mine' Ginger," Padma told Nora proudly, as she petted 'her' kangaroo.

"That suits her. I think I'll name 'mine' erm… I can't think of anything," Nora replied, frowning while stroking 'her' kangaroo absentmindedly.

"What about… oh: Ruby?" Padma said.

"Urgh, no, I definitely don't like that name," answered Nora, making a face.

"Hopper, then."

"That's just plain stupid… besides, she doesn't hop a lot, does she? I think she's the only one that can sit still for at least one minute." Padma sighed.

"Then I can't think of anything either. Help us," she said, turning to Justin and Draco. Justin shrugged.

"I have no idea. What's the point anyway? It's not like you can take it home or anything." Neither of the girls replied, they turned to Draco.

"What about Sapphire?" He said, watching the baby kangaroo hop around her. Nora watched in hilarity.

"I like it. Sapphire. Thanks," she said, smiling at Draco. He could have died of happiness right then and there. '_How on earth can someone have this kind of effect on me?_' he thought, looking into her dark eyes.

"You're welcome. At least it's better than Ruby," he replied, returning the smile and trying to put his feelings aside.

"Oooh, nice drawings," Lisa said, as she sat down beside them, studying each of the drawings on parchment. "Funny. You're the second group that has come here and drawn the kangaroo's, and on parchment as well. Most people just take pictures." The four students looked at each other. It would seem very suspicious if any of the other groups that came here drew the kangaroos on parchment too. They'd have to tell Dumbledore.

"Really?" Draco said acting innocently enough. "That certainly is funny. We have to go now, thanks for letting us stay here so long." The five stood up and Lisa shook their hands.

"No problem at all. Hope you had a good time." She led them to the gates and held the door open. Nora, Padma, Justin and Draco exited and after one last glance at Captain Jack's Kangaroos they were off.

"Whew, that was a bit close, wasn't it?" Justin said looking nervously back at the building. Draco nodded.

"So, what are we going to do now? Certainly we're not going to walk to the Hotel?" he asked.

"Better believe it," Padma replied glumly. Draco stopped in his tracks.

"What? But that's about an hour-long walk! Why can't we take a Taxer thing?"

"That's: Taxi, and we don't have any way of getting one," Justin told him.

"Besides, it'd be nice to see the country a bit," Nora said.

"What's there to see? Sand every which way you look! We might as well go get lost in the desert," Draco told her sourly. Padma and Justin had already begun walking again.

"Quit whining and move," Nora replied but Draco didn't budge. "Do not make me hex you, Malfoy."

"Oh, back on last name terms, are we?" Draco asked her, an eyebrow raised.

"We are unless you start walking," she replied, holding out her wand and pointing it at him. Draco stood stubbornly still for a few more seconds before he finally began to walk.

"But only if you stop calling me 'Malfoy'," Draco told her.

"Why? I've called you 'Malfoy' since first year, you didn't mind then."

"I did, I just never told you. You wouldn't like it if I'd call you 'Glassyd' again, would you?"

"I suppose not." The four walked for forty-five minutes before Padma and Justin, who were still walking ahead, stopped.

"What's the hold up?" Draco asked them.

"Just thought we'd take a break," Padma replied. "Anyone bring food?" They all looked at each other. "All right, let's start walking again, then!" she said in fake enthusiasm. Draco groaned.

"But I'm so hungry!" He whined.

"I know, I am too, but none of us brought any food, besides the city is only about fifteen minutes away, we can go find a place to eat there," Nora told him. Draco seemed to be thinking it over.

"I know!" He exclaimed suddenly. "What about that spell we used in the secret chamber behind that tapestry! We have no food now, and are really hungry, it would work here right?" He asked excitedly but Nora shook her head.

"Maybe it would, but it's not exactly as if we're starving to death, the city is only a little while away and, besides, Hermione performed that spell that night and she's the only one that can do it."

"Looks like you're gonna have to walk, buddy," Justin said, patting Draco sympathetically on the shoulder. He and Padma already knew what had happened to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Nora, Draco and Neville the night the Death Eaters had attacked again. As a matter of fact, the whole school knew. Draco grumbled.

"I hate this country," he muttered under his breath, but the others could clearly hear him. They began walking again, cursing the sun along the way. Nora was gradually growing more and more tired due to the lack of sleep she'd had for the past few nights, mostly because at night all her sorrows were there right in front of her and all she could do was think about them and cry. And ever since she was little and she got very tired, annoyed and/or cranky, accidents would happen to her. For instance, she'd break a vase, or walk into things or trip easily.

"Whoa!" Padma, Justin and Draco suddenly heard a yell and then a loud 'thump'. They turned around and saw Nora lying on the ground, clutching her ankle, muttering a lot of swear words.

"What happened?" Padma asked bending over Nora.

"I tripped over these effing rocks," she snarled in rage. " I think I've sprained my ankle." Justin and Draco had taken out the map again, trying to see if they were actually heading in the right direction.

"Well, I've learned a bandaging charm when I was little, for Parvati, let's see if I can still do it, shall we?" Padma said. Nora nodded her approval. "All right, then." Padma took off Nora's sneaker, pointed her wand at Nora's ankle, cleared her throat and shouted: "Iungo!" Instantly white bandages flew out of her wand and wrapped around Nora's right ankle. "Feel better?"

"Slightly. It doesn't hurt as much, that's for sure, but I don't know if I can walk," Nora replied, frowning in slight confusion of how she had tripped. Padma got up from her kneeling position, held out both hands, which Nora grabbed hold of, and pulled her up.

"Try to stand." Nora did as she was told and put her right foot on the ground, leaning a bit on it. "Does it hurt?" Nora shook her head.

"Not that much."

"Oh, no, wait. I just remembered," Padma said, somewhat crestfallen, "My mum once told me: you're not allowed to walk yet, you're not supposed to strain your ankle until it's fully healed."

"How long will that take?" Nora asked, hoping her injury wouldn't interfere with their trip.

"A few hours. Witches and Wizards heal faster than Muggles. Maybe we could contact one of the teachers? Get them to heal you," replied Padma.

"I don't know. It's not that big of an injury and we may just be bothering them…" Nora said uncertainly.

"Done yet?" asked Justin, walking over with Draco.

"Yes, but we don't know what to do, she's not supposed to be using her right foot now so it'll be a problem walking," Padma replied.

"Apparently it already was or else she wouldn't have tripped over one tiny rock and fallen flat on her face," Draco said glaring at Nora, angry that he wasn't getting any closer to the hotel and out of the burning sun. Nora glared back but both of them could see that the other didn't mean it.

"We could try walking and if it really doesn't work than we'll ask one of the teachers to heal her," Justin told the group. They nodded and Nora was left no choice but to try and walk. Five minutes later, though, she was already a few meters behind the other three and had to limp. Nora gave out a long sigh in frustration. This was all not going as planned.

"Love the way you walk, Quasimodo," came the voice of Draco beside her. She looked at him and glared.

"You try it with a crippled foot, you git," she replied coldly. Draco laughed and then held his hands up in the air and said:

"I come in peace. Want me to help you?"

"How? You can't use magic to levitate me, Muggles would see."

"What Muggles? There isn't a Muggle around for miles. Besides, I could carry you." Nora was startled by his offer, she didn't know if he was asking that to really help her or just because he liked her, and she wanted to decline the offer, but on the other hand, a little voice in her head kept shouting: '_YES! PLEASE! TAKE ME IN YOUR STRONG ARMS!_' She hated that little voice. Draco watched her think it over and his heart sank a little when she replied.

"No, that's quite all right. I don't want to wear you out," she told him, smiling awkwardly.

"You won't," Draco said, and before she could do anything he swept her off the ground and in his arms and started walking. She tried to protest but felt too exhausted to even try, and after a while she, absentmindedly, put her head on Draco's shoulder and her arms around his neck. Draco smelled the refreshing scent of fruit that emerged from her hair.

Nora was vaguely wondering what on earth she was doing in Draco's arms. She felt like she was betraying Dean. '_Don't be silly,_' the annoying little voice in her head said, speaking up once more. '_Dean is gone and he even said that you and Draco were meant to be together._' '_Quiet,_' Nora snapped at it. She closed her eyes and felt the hot sun on her face, along with the throbbing pain from her ankle. Very slowly she dozed off.

Draco looked at her beautiful face, her closed eyelids, her soft lips. How he longed to touch them, to kiss them. But he had to control himself and concentrate on getting her back to the hotel safely. Draco pulled her a bit closer to him as he gave her a gentle hug.

* * *

A while later:

"What happened to her?"

"She fell asleep."

"That tired, huh?"

"Obviously."

"Poor little thing. It's no wonder she can hardly sleep, after what happened…"

"Let's get her up to our room first."

"But… what about the food?"

"For god's sakes, Draco. We can eat later."

"Fine." Nora woke up, still feeling very sleepy, hearing voices whispering. She kept her eyes closed, slightly embarrassed that she had fallen asleep in Draco's arms, but she had felt so comfortable then…

"Hold on, I have to find the key…" There was rummaging.

"Oh, Justin. Here, take mine," Padma whispered.

"Thanks." Nora heard a 'click' as the door opened.

"Put her on her bed, Draco. It's only four thirty, we'll wake her at about six o'clock and then head into the city and find a restaurant, all right?" Nora heard no reply so she guessed Draco had nodded his answer. The last thing she heard was someone exit the room. After that she fell asleep again.

Padma walked back into the living room to watch a little television with Justin. Draco stood by Nora's bed a little longer, thinking how peaceful she looked and wondering how she would react if she woke up right now to find him watching her like some maniac. Draco knelt down beside Nora, took her hand in both of his, gave her a soft kiss on the forehead and then quickly left the room.

* * *

When Ron woke up that morning it was to find kisses being planted all over his face by Lavender. Apparently she hadn't quite gotten over the fact that she had such a caring boyfriend.

"You can stop now," Ron said, starting to smile as Lavender began a big snogging session. The two rolled over Ron's large bed, which ended eventually, and they fell with a dull 'thud' on the floor, not caring to stop and attend to whatever they had hurt. The crash had woken up Goyle and he quickly got out of bed, grabbed some clothes and ran out of the bedroom, deciding to change in the bathroom. After a while Mandy, who wasn't as afraid of a couple showing their love for each other as Goyle, entered and cleared her throat loudly. Ron and Lavender paid no attention to her. Mandy cleared her throat a couple of more times before becoming agitated.

"HEY!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. Ron and Lavender looked up at her from their position on the floor.

"Yes?" Ron asked her, eyebrows raised.

"Are you two planning on having breakfast at all?" Mandy asked them. Lavender looked at Ron and got off him.

"I supposed we should," she said reluctantly, getting up. Ron groaned and got up too. "What? I thought you liked to eat," Lavender told him

"I do, but I'd rather be snogging my girlfriend than sitting down there trying to keep my hands off of you," Ron replied mischievously. Lavender smiled at him.

"How sweet!" she said. Goyle, who was watching, faked gagging. "But we do have to eat." Ron pouted but Lavender dragged him out of the bedroom anyway and into the living room where the other two were now waiting.

"Can we eat breakfast now?" Goyle asked. Mandy nodded and he ran out of the room and to the elevator. Ron, Lavender and Mandy followed, slowly.

"What are we doing today?" Ron asked during breakfast with his mouth full.

"I don't know," Goyle replied, his mouth overloaded with food too.

"That's just gross," Lavender said, Mandy nodded, pushing her plate of food away from her, a revolted look on her face.

"Today," Mandy began "We'll grab our portkey which will take us to the airport and from there on we'll fly to a warmer part of England."

"How are we going to fly?" Goyle asked.

"Using an airplane, of course," Mandy replied.

"What's an airpl… what was it?"

"Airplane."

"Yes, what's that?" Ron asked.

"Well, it's kind of hard to describe, but you'll see it later today," Mandy said.

"And what's an airpork?" questioned Ron.

"Airport, Ron," Lavender said. "It's where all the airplanes leave."

"Hi," Harry said. He pulled up a seat along with the rest of his group.

"Hi," The others replied.

"Hey, Harry?" Ron said. Harry turned to look at his friend.

"Yeah?"

"Did you know we're taking something that flies to up to the warmer part of England today?"

"Yes. Though my group's taking a portkey," Ron's excited smile faded.

"Oh yeah. I forgot." Suddenly he looked horror struck. "But you've got to be there to help me!"

"Why?" Harry asked, taking a sip of orange juice.

"Because I don't know how to fly an airport!" Harry chuckled.

"First of all, Ron, Lavender and Mandy were raised as Muggles so they'd know, second of all the airplane flies, not the airport, and third of all you don't have to fly it, specialized people, called pilots, do," he explained. Relief washed over Ron.

"Oh."

After breakfast the two groups went into the city again to do some more shopping. Ron's airplane wouldn't leave until one thirty and Harry's portkey wouldn't take them away until four o'clock sharp.

Parvati went into a large store with Crystal-Rose and came back out half an hour later, finding Harry and Crabbe pretty worried that something had happened to the girls. Parvati walked over to Harry, gave her boyfriend a passionate kiss, linked arms with him and dragged him along for further shopping.

"Honey?" Harry asked.

"Hmmm?"

"What took you two so long in that store?"

"Oh nothing really, we were just browsing a bit."

"For what?" Harry questioned, he thought it was peculiar that Parvati and Crystal-Rose had spent so long in there yet had come out with nothing.

"Bra's." Harry made a face.

"Forget I asked." Parvati nodded.

"That's why we didn't take you two with us. Where shall we go next?"

"I don't know," Harry told her.

"Why don't we head back to the hotel?" Crystal-Rose said. "We could swim for a bit, I'm pretty tired from shopping, to tell you the truth."

"Yeah! Let's go swim," said Goyle excitedly.

"All right." And so the four headed back to the hotel and changed into their swimsuits ready to take a dive.

When Parvati entered the large space that contained the pool, Harry immediately went up to her and kissed her passionately. He couldn't help it; she just looked so ravishing in her yellow two-piece that he just had to kiss her. Crystal-Rose, who Harry still hated, smiled a little smile at the young couple.

She had never had that kind of passion. Not even with Dean. Which was the reason she had cheated on him with some seventh year Slytherin, but she had also gotten jealous when Dean and Nora had gotten back together. She knew those two had had the passion she wanted so badly.

Crystal-Rose felt a pang of guilt: she had, a bit knowingly, torn those two apart because she had instantly found Dean very hot. Maybe, if she hadn't separated the two, Dean would still be alive. Crystal was shaken out of her thoughts by Crabbe's voice.

"You coming in, or what?" He asked her. Crystal nodded.

"Yeah." But she didn't move.

"You need help?" Crabbe asked her. Crystal shook her head.

"No." But still she didn't move.

"I think you do." And with that he pushed her into the pool. She gave a loud shriek before the cool water engulfed her. Crabbe jumped in right after her. Crystal came up spluttering and laughing.

"You'll pay for that," she told him, as he emerged. Crabbe gave a fake scared look and Crystal dived at him. The two continued wrestling in the water as Harry and Parvati were enjoying a passionate snogging session somewhere by the side of the pool. There was nobody else so they were free to do anything they pleased.

* * *

Ron was holding hands with Lavender as he walked down the streets of London with her. Mandy and Goyle were off somewhere else. The four had agreed they would split up, making it easier for them to shop and since Mandy and Lavender were the only Muggle ones it was decided that they would be split up boy/girl.

"Oh, that looks like an interesting shop!" Lavender squealed, squeezing Ron's hand. Ron looked to where his girlfriend was pointing and saw a large shop with yellow windows.

"Want to go look inside, then?" He asked.

"Oh, yes, please!" Lavender replied and she dragged Ron inside. It was a large store with lots of different types of jeans and a lot of different t-shirts. "Look at this," Lavender said, holding up a long-sleeved yellow shirt with a little purple flower on it.

"But… but… the sleeves have holes in them, surely you're not buying that." Ron said. Lavender chuckled.

"Sure I am. It's supposed to be that way. I like it, I think I'll try it on." And she walked off heading for one of the changing booths. When she came back out Ron thought the shirt looked quiet good on her, so Lavender bought it. They exited the store again after Lavender had bought a white t-shirt, too, that said 'In' on the front at the top, and 'out' at the bottom on the back. Ron had thought it was funny.

"Where to, now?" Lavender asked, glad about her purchase.

"How about we go there?" Ron asked, pointing to a little café he had seen yesterday.

"Sure," Lavender replied, and they walked into the little café. It was very cozy and had a gleaming mahogany bar and little mahogany tables. Apparently this was a bar for couples, because almost every table that was taken had two people snogging each other senseless. Kind of like 'Madam Puddifoots' in Hogsmeade. Ron led Lavender to a table by the window and asked her what she would like to drink.

"Erm… I don't know, I think I'll have a coca-cola." Ron nodded. He went over to the bar, where a good-looking woman stood, and, because he didn't know the drinks Muggles had, ordered:

"Two coca-cola's, please."

"That'll be ten pounds," the woman said sweetly as she took two long glasses, put them under a machine, pressed a button and filled them up with a brown fizzling liquid. Ron took out some money and watched as the glasses filled themselves miraculously. "Ten pounds," the woman said again. Ron turned his head towards her and held out his hand.

"It's this one, right?" He asked her. The lady looked at him in confusion but nodded.

"Erm… yes, it is. Have a nice day." She took the money and put it in a white cash register. Ron took the two cokes and walked towards Lavender looking very smug with himself.

"What are you looking so proud for?" Lavender asked him.

"I paid all by myself." He told her happily. Lavender smiled.

"Good for you!" She said earnestly. She knew Ron wasn't the best in everything like Harry and Hermione and that he was often overshadowed by his two friends and brothers so she thought it wouldn't hurt to compliment him on things he was particularly proud of, even if they were a bit easy to do. Lavender took a sip of her coke. Ron looked at the liquid with an interesting look on his face.

"So… what is this?" He asked, turning his glass round and round.

"It's a drink. It's very sweet and has bubbles in it. Taste it, it's very good." Ron looked at his drink suspiciously for a few seconds, as if expecting it to hold out a gun to him and say 'Stick 'em up!' before taking a sip. He immediately started spluttering when the liquid entered his mouth, and had some trouble swallowing it too, but eventually he managed. "What do you think?" Lavender asked Ron when he was done spluttering and choking.

"How much sugar do they pour into this?" he asked, peering at his glass. "I like it," he then added smiling, and he took another sip, swallowing it with a little less commotion. When the two were done with their drinks they just sat a little and talked.

"Well, you sure are romantic," Lavender told Ron after a few moments of comfortable silence.

"Why?" Ron asked, bewildered.

"First the bracelet, then the dancing yesterday night, now this little café. It makes a girl feel very special."

"Well, the gift and the dancing I kinda did because Harry did too," Ron confessed blushing, not looking at Lavender. "The café was the only idea I came up with." He was afraid Lavender would be mad at him for copying Harry so much, but he was relieved when she spoke in a soft calm tone.

"That's all right. At least you bought a gift for me too, even if it was just because Harry had dragged you into the shop. And at least you asked me to dance at all. I really don't mind if you copy some things, and you came up with this café all by yourself, so that shows you still are romantic." Ron looked up at her, into her eyes, which were filled full of love… for him, he suddenly realized. The great urge to kiss her overwhelmed him so he held her head in both of his hands, leaned forward and kissed her, hoping she wouldn't mind snogging in a public place. It appeared she didn't since she passionately returned his kiss.

* * *

"Hello, sleepyhead," Padma said as Nora entered the living room, stretching and yawning. Nora smiled at her a little too friendly. Her ankle had fully healed now and she was using it gladly.

"Hi. Where are we eating tonight?" she asked, yawning again.

"Dolphin's Palace. It's a tacky name but it seems to be a really great restaurant," Justin replied.

"All right, then. Is it a fancy place?"

"Yup."

"Really fancy?"

"Yup."

"So I have to wear a dress or a skirt?"

"Yup."

"No! I hate wearing dresses and skirts! They're so girly," Nora said, stomping her foot. She preferred her usual jeans and a shirt much better.

"I know," Padma said, "But I have to wear a skirt too. You won't be all alone." Nora smiled at her, again perhaps too sweetly.

"That so does not make me feel any better," she said.

"Well, it was worth a shot. Now hit the showers or we'll be late and our table may be given away," Padma replied. Nora did as she was told and went into the bathroom. She washed her hair quickly using her usual shampoo. When she got out of the shower and dried off she slapped herself on the forehead.

"How could I forget to bring my clothes with me?" she muttered to herself. Sometimes she could be so idiotic and forgetful, especially now: not having felt completely 'right' again since his death. It hung there in the back of her mind, haunting her. She wrapped a large, fluffy towel around herself and made it stick so she wouldn't have to hold on to it. She opened the door a bit and poked her head out.

"Padma?" She asked. No one replied. "Padma!" she called out again. Draco came out of his room looking aggrieved.

"What are you yelling about?" He asked.

"Where's Padma?"

"She's out for a walk with Justin. Listen to this: apparently, he really likes her and was planning on asking her out tonight… Why?"

"I needed her to get my clothes, but obviously I'll have to get them myself now. You can go back in your room."

"I can get them for you," Draco offered, while a part of him wondered if she was standing there naked or not.

"No, I haven't laid them out yet. I'll get them myself." She sighed in aggravation, while heading towards her room. Draco shrugged and entered his room again. Nora rummaged through her trunk looking for decent clothes she could wear, wishing Padma were there with her, for Padma had a very good sense of style and usually knew what to wear and when to wear it.

"Got it!" Nora said triumphantly as she pulled out her black skirt. She laid it on her bed and then started rummaging again, looking for a shirt. During her search she found her underwear, too, which she laid on her bed along with her skirt. After about five minutes she finally found a white shirt with thin gray and silver glittering diagonal stripes on it. It would fit perfectly. Now all she needed were shoes.

"Hey, I don't remember buying these…" she said pulling out a pair of high-heeled black strappy shoes. Shrugging, she grabbed all of her stuff on the bed and got up and then headed back to the bathroom to find it locked.

"DRACO!" She shouted, banging on the door. "I NEED TO BE IN HERE!"

"Tough luck!" Came Draco's reply. Nora snarled in outrage.

"YOU ARROGANT PIECE OF SCUM! LET ME IN!" she shouted. Padma and Justin would be back soon and then she'd make them late for dinner.

"Do I have to?" Draco asked.

"YES!" Nora shrieked in disbelief. She heard the lock open and Draco opened the door. He stepped aside to let her in and then returned to combing his hair and piling it full of gel.

"Now leave!"

"Just let me comb my hair, will you?"

"No! Padma and Justin will be here soon and then I won't be ready and we'll be late for dinner! You can comb your hair in your room!" She was getting very frustrated.

"Calm down, will you?"

"No, I will not calm down, now get out or I'll hex you!"

"How? I don't see a wand in your hand, unless you've got it somewhere under your towel," Draco replied, smirking. Nora looked down and quickly grabbed hold of her towel, afraid it would fall off.

"Get out now," she said darkly. Draco smirked but he went into the living room anyway. Nora slammed the door behind him, locking it angrily. She got dressed, combed her hair, quickly put it in a high knot, leaving some strands to frame her face and then grabbed for her makeup. In record time she put some of it on before walking out of the bathroom a bit clumsily; she still had to get used to the high-heeled shoes, since she usually wore sneakers. She found Draco sitting on the sofa fumbling with the remote control his tongue poking out of his mouth. Nora gave a small smile, shaking her head a little, anger slowly subsiding. He looked so helpless that she couldn't stay mad at him. She sat next to Draco, grabbed the remote control and asked:

"Where are Justin and Padma?"

"Hey, I was using that!" He yelled, trying to grab the remote control back.

"If you tell me where Justin and Padma are, I'll show you how to use it properly."

"They're still out. How does it work?" He asked eagerly.

"Well you aim at that thing in front of you," she said, aiming the remote control at the television, "and then you press one of the buttons." Draco watched amazed as the television turned on, showing much more interesting things than the TV's in the airplane had. He was kept busy with the television until Justin and Padma came back. The two looked thoroughly refreshed, but by the look on Justin's face he hadn't asked Padma out yet. Nora gave Draco a nudge.

"What?" He said, irritated, tearing his eyes away from the television. Nora leaned closer and whispered very quietly:

"I'll keep Padma busy for a while, you go talk to Justin."

"And say what?"

"Tell him encouraging things. I don't think he has the nerve to tell Padma he likes her without some reassurance. Now go." Nora got up dragged Padma to their bedroom and closed the door.

"What?" Padma asked.

"Well, you were gone so I had to choose the clothes I'd wear all by myself. What do you think?" Nora asked.

"Great! I love the shirt. Oh, and the skirt ends just above the knee, perfect. Very good job. Like what I'm wearing?" Nora nodded. Padma was wearing a black skirt too, that also ended just above the knee, but had a black shirt on top, with the letters NYC on it in silver. She was also wearing black, strapped high-heeled shoes.

"Looks good, really love your hair, by the way." Padma had her hair loose, but wavy, instead of the usual straightness. "How was the walk?" Nora asked casually.

"Very refreshing. I got the idea that Justin wanted to say something, but I don't think he ever did," Padma replied, looking a bit confused.

"Beats me, let's go, shall we?" Nora said quickly. Draco heard the door open and immediately positioned himself on the couch, so as not to make Padma suspicious. The two girls entered again and looked at the two boys.

"Ready?" Padma asked. Justin and Draco nodded. As they walked to the elevator Nora whispered to Draco:

"Did you talk to him?" Draco nodded.

"Yes, he says he'll do it tonight, when they're in the café he promised to take her to," he whispered back.

"I hope it works out for them, they'd make such a cute couple!"

"Er… yes, right," Draco said, a little awkwardly. Nora noticed boys obviously didn't talk about that sort of thing so she stayed quiet. "I get to push the button!" Draco said as he batted Padma's hand away. The others laughed but Draco proudly pushed the button, looking as if he had climbed Mount Everest.

The four walked over the streets and entered the restaurant. It was very large and filled with people and the delicious smell of food. A waiter took them to their table and they ordered what seemed delicious.

"And drinks?" The waiter asked, while writing the food down.

"A bottle of Perrier wine, please," Draco replied instantly. The waiter looked at him thinking hard, for he didn't look eighteen, but if he wasn't then how on earth could he have known that that was an excellent wine? After a minute the waiter wrote it down and walked off.

"Draco!" The other three exclaimed quietly.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"You ordered wine! We're not eighteen yet!" Padma said.

"So?"

"Who says we even like drinking wine!" Nora told him.

"Just try it, you'll love it," Draco replied.

"How do you know that? Have you had wine before?" Justin asked. Draco nodded.

"Yes, my father always let me have some whenever we went out to eat. I promise you, you won't be sorry." Just then the waiter returned with a bottle of Perrier wine and poured a little into Draco's wine glass. Draco picked the glass up, sniffed the scent of the wine, stirred it by moving his hand clockwise and then took a large gulp. He rolled the wine around his mouth before swallowing it and saying:

"Excellent." The waiter smiled ever so slightly, and poured Draco's and the others' glass full. After dinner the four had finished the entire wine bottle and were slightly tipsy. They decided to go for a walk and Justin and Padma would go into a café along the way.

"It sure is a lovely morning, isn't it?" Nora said, still a bit drunk.

"Definitely, though it is a bit dark, don't you think so?" replied Padma, hiccupping. The two boys nodded. This was the way it was supposed to be: them with the girls they liked having a fabulous dinner and then a romantic walk, though they should probably leave the wine out, next time. They reached a park and Justin stopped, the others followed his example.

"Padma? The café I'm taking you to is right above… I mean, across the street. Will you two wait here?" He asked, turning to Nora and Draco.

"I don't think so. We'll just take a tall… long stroll in the park and when we're done we'll head back to the hotel," Draco replied.

"All right. We'll meet you there, then," said Justin. He crossed the street with Padma and entered the café.

"Ready to troll, god damn it, I mean, stroll, then?" Draco asked. Nora gave a small giggle, which she _never_ did, thinking it was too girly and Parvati-like, which just showed how drunk she was, and nodded. The two entered the dark park that was only lit by a couple of street lamps.

"Wow," said Nora looking up at the sky. "I just love looking at the sky."

"Me too. See that over there?" Draco asked, pointing up at the sky. Nora nodded. "That's the Orion's belt," he said.

"What, really?" Nora asked, amazed.

"No, I just made that up 'cause I figured girls love it when guys point at stars and say intellectual things," Draco replied. Nora laughed.

"They do, but I don't really mind if it's left out," she said.

"Really? Well then, I say, look at that ground!" Draco said, taking her attention off the sky. Nora followed his finger downwards.

"I say, that is mighty interesting," she replied. She looked back up to see where she was going. Draco on the other hand didn't and lost his balance. He grabbed Nora's arm to hold himself steady but, alas, he pulled her down with him and the two lay on the ground laughing. Draco got off the dirt and helped Nora up. He took out his wand, pointed it at her and said: "Scourgify." The dust was immediately taken off her clothes. He did the same with his suit.

"Come," he said and he grabbed Nora's arm and pulled her off of the path they had been walking on. He looked around for a bit, dragged her about some more and finally said: "Here."

"Here what?"

"Lie down here," he said. Nora didn't know why and what to expect, surely he wasn't trying to…? "The view of the stars is great here," Draco said as he lay down on the grass, looking up. Nora lay down next to him and, by golly, he was right. It was an open clearing and the stars glittered beautifully above them.

"Never knew you were so romantic, Draco," Nora said teasingly, slowly sobering up a bit.

"There's more about me you don't know." Nora was sorry to hear the sad tone in his voice.

"It's beautiful here," she said, trying to make him feel a bit better. A cold wind blew and she shivered heavily; wearing just a skirt and shirt. Stupid of her to not bring a sweater or jacket.

"Cold?" Draco asked. She nodded.

"Yes, I should have brought a sweater along." They remained silent for a few more minutes, just watching the sky. Nora shivered a few more times. She felt Draco move beside her and thought he was getting up but her heart began beating faster when his right hand slid under her… back (_A/N_: I know what you were thinking… tsk tsk.) He put his left arm over her chest and pulled her a bit closer, trying to keep her warm. Nora looked at him and saw the stars and the black sky reflect in his lovely blue/gray eyes. Inwardly she smiled a little and put her head against his.

Draco had no idea where he got the courage to hold the beautiful girl beside him but was a bit relieved when she put her head against his. He looked at the stars and then suddenly a poem entered his mind:

"_Presently my soul grew stronger, hesitating then no longer, _

_'Sir' said I, 'or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore, _

_For the fact is I was napping, when so gently you came rapping, _

_And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, _

_That I scarce was sure I heard you.' - here I opened wide the door; _

_Darkness there and nothing more,_" he said.

"Who wrote that?" Nora asked.

"Edgar Allan Poe," Draco replied.

"You know who Edgar Allan Poe is?"

"Sure, he was a famous wizard you know."

"What? I thought he was a Muggle!"

"Nope." Draco smiled a little, still looking at the stars. He liked holding the girl he loved so close in his arms, smelling her scent.

"All right, I've got a poem as well:

_Scintillate, Scintillate globule vivific,_

_Fain do I fathom thy nature specific,_

_Loftily perched in the ether capacious,_

_Strongly resembling a gem carbonaceous,_" Nora said, smiling too.

"What's that?" Draco asked, turning his head to look at her. Nora looked him in the eyes.

"Just a nerdy way of saying 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star'," she replied. Draco laughed. Then, he began leaning closer to her. Nora didn't lean forward but she didn't back away either, she was completely frozen, and when Draco's soft lips touched hers, her mind was screaming: '_BETRAYAL! BETRAYAL!_' and the little annoying voice was shouting in reply: '_NO IT'S NOT! DEAN'S GONE! HE EVEN BEGGED YOU TO DO THIS! GO FOR IT!_' And then Nora's annoying voice took over and she didn't pull away from Draco. They kissed ever so passionately and both completely forgot that this was supposed to be wrong, for pureblood Slytherin's were not to go around kissing 'mudblood' Gryffindors.

The two did not notice anything else and would've continued even longer, if church bells announcing it was eleven o'clock had not disturbed them. They both broke apart and sat up straight, not looking at each other. Draco got up and held out a hand. Nora took it awkwardly and she was pulled up.

"Er… I think we should go back to the hotel," Draco said quietly. Nora nodded and they walked back to the Hotel in silence and a few feet away from each other. When they entered the elevator Draco didn't even make a fuss about pushing the button. They reached their room and Draco took out his key to open the door.

They both stopped still in the doorway. There, in front of them, were Justin and Padma snogging furiously on the sofa. Both Nora and Draco blushed heavily, not so much because of Justin and Padma but because it reminded them of their own make out session. They both muttered 'Hi,' and 'Bye,' to the couple and quickly entered their room.

Nora found Siberia sitting on her bed. She quickly changed into her pajamas and sat on her bed. Siberia hopped on to her knee and Nora was a bit sorry to see that there was no note attached to her leg.

"What happened? Didn't you make it to Paris?" Siberia hooted and held her beak open. Nora saw something yellow in it and said: "Accio." It seemed like it had been shrunk, so she enlarged it and Hermione's reply was in her hands.

_Dear Nora,_

_I shrunk the letter and asked Siberia if she could keep it in her beak in case she got intercepted. I also asked her to swallow the little piece if that did happened and she was captured. I'm not sure if she understands what I'm telling her, though. Anyway, no one is allowed to read this besides you, well maybe Harry and Ron…_

_Thanks for your fast response, it really helped me. I feel a lot better and that cow Pansy can just bite me, though I'd prefer it if she didn't. That night, after I wrote you my letter. I fell asleep in Terry's arms on the couch, very comfortable. I guess he sensed I was upset. He really is caring, and I'm very content now. Today we're going to go shopping in Paris. Our task is: Eat baguettes and drink coffee. We thought it was joke at first but later decided it wasn't. Pretty easy task, though._

_About your letter again… I don't think there's anything Dumbledore can do. He might scold Pansy a bit but I don't think it'll help. It'd just make her taunt me and others even more. She shouldn't do that though! I really hate her! Though there is something interesting Hannah told me when we were discussing the Death Eaters attacks, in the train: When we were in the secret chamber behind the tapestry and the Death Eaters had entered the Great Hall… some Slytherin's had scared looks on their faces. And some even fought against the Death Eaters! Including the Slytherin's in our year. I think Voldemort's plan is failing; he's losing his younger Death Eaters and new followers._

_This is an interesting piece of information and I think that we should remember it. I also think that the attack has something to do with Neville's attack. Remember when Harry heard the Professors talking about Owls searching the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw dorms and Nifflers the Hufflepuff and Slytherin dorms? I think Voldemort's seeking that Amulet again…_

_Tell me what you think. I haven't written to Harry or Ron about this, yet. I plan on telling them later, but I only have one owl, which is actually yours, and we're not even supposed to be sending out messages too often._

_I really liked your joke at the end. It made me laugh quite a bit, so here's one for you:_

_Juan comes up to the Mexican border on his bicycle. He's got two large bags over his shoulders. The guard stops him and says, "What's in the bags?" "Sand," answered Juan. The guard says, "We'll just see about that. Get off the bike." The guard takes the bags and rips them apart; he empties them out and finds nothing in them but sand. He detains Juan overnight and has the sand analysed, only to discover that there is nothing but pure sand in the bags. The guard releases Juan, puts the sand into new bags, hefts them onto the man's shoulders, and lets him cross the border._

_A week later, the same thing happens. The guard asks, "What have you got?" "Sand," says Juan. The guard does his thorough examination and discovers that the bags contain nothing but sand. He gives the sand back to Juan, and Juan crosses the border on his bicycle. This sequence of events is repeated every day for three years. Finally, Juan doesn't show up one day and the guard meets him in a Cantina in Mexico._

_"Hey, Buddy," says the guard, "I know you're smuggling something. It's driving me crazy. It's all I think about… I can't sleep. Just between you and me, what are you smuggling?" Juan sips his beer and says, "Bicycles."_

_I just know you'll like this joke. Good luck with the rest of the trip. Today… shopping!_

_Love,_

_Hermione_

P.S. You may tell Draco about my letter and what Pansy did, but I don't think he can help, can he? Miss you loads.

Nora finished reading the letter and sighed. Now she'd have to go and talk to Draco. After what had happened she'd rather try and break in and out of Gringott's than see him. She was happy that Hermione was feeling better and she had always known Terry would take good care of her but what Hermione had written about Voldemort trying to steal the Amulet worried her. Nora had already put two and two together and come to that conclusion but seeing it written down on paper made it more real, more definite. Hopefully Voldemort hadn't gotten his hands on the Amulet and hopefully he never would. Nora stroked Siberia for a minute, absentmindedly, before writing a reply to Hermione. When she was finished she got up, put the letter on her table and grabbed the first one Hermione had written to her.

"Wait here, Siberia. I need to ask something before I can send the letter off with you." Nora exited her room and found Justin and Padma still snogging on the couch. Nora vaguely wondered how long they were going to keep at it before she walked over to Draco's room. Shaking her head very slightly, Nora sighed and knocked on Draco's door. It took a minute before he answered.

"Come in." Nora barely heard it. She opened the door and had to adjust to the darkness. She saw Draco lying on top of his covers in his boxers, his right arm over his eyes. Nora quietly closed the door, blocking out the heavy moans and groans coming from Justin and Padma.

"Hi, did I wake you?" She asked softly. Draco didn't need to open his eyes to know who it was. Her pleasant scent had already reached his nose.

"Hi and no, I was still awake." He didn't sit up or take his arm off his face; he just lay there, wishing the awkwardness would pass. If only he hadn't kissed her, then they'd just go back to being friends and he could admire her secretly.

"I wanted to ask you a favor." Draco still didn't move. "It's for Hermione." At this he lowered his arm and sat up, leaning on his elbows. Nora walked a little closer, feeling a bit uncomfortable since he was barely dressed. "She wrote me a letter. It was about Pansy," Nora said. She walked up to Draco's bed and handed him the letter. He turned on the lamp beside his bed and read it. Nora watched him as his expression changed from confusion to anger. He folded the letter and handed it back to her.

"She wrote that she didn't want anyone to know," Draco said, looking expressionlessly at Nora. She felt hurt. He was acting like the Slytherin from first to fifth year again.

"I-I asked her if I could tell you, and she said that was all right. I thought m-maybe you could put a stop to Pansy's teasing," Nora replied, trying to hold back her tears. She knew she was acting incredibly silly but she couldn't help it, she was sincerely hurt. She turned her gaze to the ground, not daring to look straight at Draco.

Draco watched Nora and felt a flash of pain go through him as he realized what he was doing to her. He shouldn't be acting cold and distant, but warm and comforting. After all, it was _he_ who had kissed _her_.

She heard him move and thought that he was probably going to show her the way out of his bedroom and still she did not know why she was so affected. Nora gave a little gasp out of shock when a cool hand touched her chin and tilted her head up.

"I'm so sorry," Draco whispered. A tear rolled down her face and he brushed it away with his thumb. "I'm really sorry." Nora smiled weakly as her eyebrows frowned in sad frustration and she closed her eyes, wishing all her troubles would just go away. She felt Draco's lips brush against hers as he pulled her into a tender, yet passionate, kiss.

A few minutes later Nora was standing in her room again, completely befuddled, Hermione's letter clutched tightly in her hand. Padma and Justin had finally fallen asleep on the couch. Nora quickly wrote a 'P.S.' on the parchment, shrunk it, handed it to Siberia and let her owl fly out of the window. After she had lost sight of the white dot in the pitch-black sky, Nora let herself fall on her bed and dozed off almost at once, feeling torn apart by everything that was happening.

* * *

"All right, so today we just go shopping?" Timothy asked, sounding unenthusiastic.

"Yup," Hermione replied.

"That's all? Just shopping?"

"Yup," Hannah told him.

"Nothing else?"

"Nope."

"Great," Timothy said, sarcastically.

"Yup." The four finished breakfast and walked out of the Hotel.

"Which way?" Hermione asked Hannah.

"Erm… let's go right." So they turned right and walked down the busy streets of Paris. They saw about a million stores and the girls dragged the boys into about half of 'em.

"Oh, look at this!" Hannah squealed, getting Hermione's attention. She was holding up an orange tank top with red circles on it.

"Nice," Hermione said, nodding. She herself was examining a light blue tank top with a large white snowflake on the front. Terry and Timothy were standing by the entrance, bored, waiting until the girls were finished.

Two hours later Hermione and Hannah were through shopping and each had about three large shopping bags filled with new clothes. They were standing outside a store called 'Sting'.

"Where to now?" Timothy asked, wishing he'd never agreed to go outside today.

"We could go to a café and do our task," Hannah offered.

"Good idea," Hermione agreed and the two girls marched off to find a nice place that wasn't too expensive, since they spent most of their money on clothes. Terry and Timothy slowly walked after them, dragging their feet.

"What about this place?" Hermione asked. They were standing in front of an impressive building that contained a large café called 'Au Bon Gout'.

"Make up your mind already!" Timothy said annoyed, he couldn't understand how women could make such a fuss about everything.

"Let's go in here," Hannah decided, glaring at Timothy. Hermione nodded and the two girls entered. They looked around and found an open space by the window. They walked over and sat down on one of the comfortable couches that stood in front of a small coffee table. Terry and Timothy joined them a minute later; happy they were able to rest their feet.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaah," Terry sighed as he sat down beside Hermione and put his arm around her.

"What do you guys want to drink?" Hermione asked.

"Coffee," Terry replied.

"Yes, but what kind, normal black, or with milk or…"

"May I have your orders?" a man asked, in a heavy French accent, holding a note pad and a pencil.

"Yes, we'd like one plain baguette," Hermione told him. The man wrote it down. "And I'll have a cappuccino." The man wrote that down too. Hermione looked at the other three.

"I'll have an espresso, please," Timothy said. Again the man scribbled it down. He looked at Hannah and Terry.

"Er…" Terry said. He didn't know anything about the coffee Muggles had. "I'll erm… have a cappuccino, too."

"And I'll have an espresso, I guess," Hannah said. The man wrote that down too and left. "What did I just order?" She asked Timothy.

"Don't worry. It's really very good," he answered.

"Yeah, well, we'll see about that," She replied as their waiter came back with a filled tray. He put down four little white cups which each had a cookie on the side. He then put down four small glasses of water and a plate with a plain baguette.

"What's the water for?" Terry whispered to Hermione.

"You sometimes get that when you order coffee in France," she replied.

"Ok, then," he picked up his cappuccino and sniffed it. "Doesn't smell that great. Are you sure this tastes good?" he asked.

"Of course, otherwise I wouldn't have ordered it," Hermione told him before taking a sip of her cappuccino. Terry watched her and then took a sip too.

"Not that bad," he said before taking another sip.

"Told you," Hermione replied. She took her cookie and ate it. She had always loved the cookies.

"Not as bad as I expected. And the cookies are really great," Hannah told Timothy. He smiled.

"See? Unfortunately for you I'm quite fond of the cookies too, so I'm eating mine myself." Hannah pouted.

"Shoot… Terry?" She asked, smiling in the sweetest way she could.

"Sorry, just finished mine," Terry replied.

"Here, Hannah," Hermione said, giving her a piece of the baguette. "Eat this." Hannah took her piece and examined it as Hermione gave Terry and Timothy a piece too.

"What is it?" Hannah asked, poking at the baguette with her finger.

"It's kind of like bread. Taste it," Hermione replied. Hannah took a small bite and chewed very slowly.

"It _is_ kind of like bread," She replied, after having swallowed. "Very tasty." Terry, who had been watching Hannah's reaction, took a bite too.

"Yes, very good."

When the four had finished their coffee, water and baguette they left the café.

"What do we do now?" Terry asked, as they stood in a cool winter breeze in front of 'Au bon Gout'.

"Does the hotel have a pool?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Hannah replied.

"Then let's go swim."

"All right." And the four walked to the Hotel. When Hermione and Hannah exited the changing room they found that the pool was empty except for Terry and Timothy who had finished changing a long while ago. Terry got out of the pool in his black and blue swim trunks to give Hermione a hug. He wrapped her in his arms and jumped into the pool, causing Hermione to give a scream before she was engulfed by water.

Hannah and Timothy stood chuckling before jumping in too. When Hermione reached the surface she was laughing and took a large breath. She turned to Terry, who was smiling innocently.

"You'll pay for that," she said. Terry just continued smiling. Hermione took a large breath of air, dove on to him and pushed him under water. She felt the water hit her face and she opened her eyes so she could see what she was doing. She saw Terry smile at her and come closer. Hermione felt a little tingly feeling as he came even nearer and her heart skipped a beat when she felt his soft lips touch hers. Hermione felt him open his mouth and she did the same.

Normally she thought it was rude when two people were snogging in a public place, but since they were alone, except for Hannah and Timothy, and it was Terry she was snogging, Hermione didn't mind.

* * *

_A/N_: Longest chapter written so far D I would like to thank all of my reviewers, now that I have the chance to. I really appreciate all of your reviews, they've helped me a lot while writing my story and it gives me the urge to write even better chapters. Thank you! One more note: I might not be updating so much now because I have end of term exams coming up… -sigh-. Hope you can wait. 


	24. Death Eaters, Again

**Chapter 24: Death Eaters, Again**

Hermione and Terry kept snogging in the pool for a bit, while Hannah and Timothy were racing each other, seeing who could swim the fastest.

"Let's do something else, this isn't fun anymore," Hannah said after a while, folding her arms over her chest.

"Yes it is, I'm having a good time, actually," Timothy replied, turning to look at the Hufflepuff.

"That's because you keep winning. I want to do something else. Something you're NOT good at."

"Well, I suck at erm… well… nothing actually," he told her, looking very smug with himself in a way only Slytherins could.

"Great. I'm bored, but unfortunately Romeo and Juliet over there are glued together at the lips, so I can't do any girl stuff either," Hannah said sourly, glancing over at Hermione and Terry. She wasn't exactly mad at them but just so very bored.

"We could do the same thing?" Timothy said suggestively, wriggling his eyebrows. Hannah snorted.

"Yeah, with you," she replied sarcastically.

"I am utterly and deeply humiliated. And for that, I will not play with you anymore," Timothy said, pretending to be hurt. Hannah chuckled.

"Then what'll you do?" She asked.

"I'll go back up and watch television," he replied, getting out of the pool. Hannah's face lit up.

"Television? Can I come, please?" she asked, following him, looking extremely excited.

"I guess," he replied, shrugging.

"Thank you!" Hannah said, smiling. She turned to Hermione and Terry. "Erm… you guys?" she asked. No reply. "We're going back up now, I take it you two will stay here for a bit longer?" The two gave a little wave with their hand to show they had heard but didn't look up. "Great. Let's go then. So… how does a television work exactly?" She asked, walking off with Timothy.

Hermione loved the wonderful feeling she got when being around Terry and the two remained in each other's arms for a pretty long time before finally breaking apart and heading back upstairs.

They found Hannah and Timothy sitting on the couch watching television. Terry sat down beside them while Hermione grabbed some clean clothes and made her way to the shower. When she stepped under the hot water she felt very comfortable and rinsed herself thoroughly, trying to get rid of the pool smell. Twenty minutes later Hermione was all clean and dressed. As she walked into the living room she noticed that the television was turned off and her three friends were huddled over a piece of paper. She sat down beside them.

"What's that?" Hermione asked.

"An owl just delivered our next city and task," Hannah replied, not taking her eyes off of the parchment.

"Which are…?" Hermione inquired.

"Dijon and visit the French museum, there," Hannah replied sombrely; she didn't like museums, they were always so dull.

"Oh! But I already visited that museum two summers ago."

"Poor you," Hannah said before sighing. "I don't know who comes up with these tasks but they're definitely not quite right in their mind."

"Must be Dumbledore, then," Timothy muttered, inspecting the parchment for further details. Hannah slapped him on the arm. "Ouch!" he spluttered, rubbing his upper arm. "Well it could be! Every one says he's off his rocker!"

"So?" Hannah replied, sitting back in her seat, folding her arms and looking him straight in the eyes. Timothy shook his head a little and turned to talk to Terry, muttering something about "Women."

"So… do you really think we have to visit the museum?" Hannah questioned Hermione.

"Yes," replied Hermione, who didn't mind at all. Hannah groaned.

"Right, where's the map again?" Timothy questioned, throwing things aside, searching everywhere.

"Here it is," Hannah said, picking it up off the floor. "Will we be staying in a hotel or do we have to use the tent?" she asked.

"Hotel again," Timothy replied. "Who has the tent, by the way?"

"I do," Hermione replied. "Why?"

"No, just checking."

"How are we getting to Dijon?" Hermione asked.

"Airplane," Hannah replied, anxiously. "Is it scary? I've never flown one."

"No, no, no. You don't fly one, you fly in one. Pilots fly the airplane and you can just sit and relax," Hermione replied.

"Oh, all right, then," Hannah said, but she didn't look like she felt better.

"The plane leaves at ten o'clock by the way," Terry said to the others. Hermione and Timothy groaned. "What?"

"This means we'll have to be at the airport around nine o'clock…" Timothy began.

"Meaning we have to get up at about seven thirty," Hermione finished.

"What? Why?" Hannah asked. She'd never been much of a morning person.

"Well, I, for one, want to take a shower tomorrow morning, then we have to finish packing all of our things, eat breakfast and then take a cab to the airport," Timothy told her.

"But I thought we were flying in an airplane," Terry said confused. Hermione smiled.

"We are, but the airplane leaves from the airport," she explained.

"Aaaaaah. I see," he replied, though he still looked a little confused.

"You'll see tomorrow," Hermione said.

"I'm going to bed. It's already a quarter to eleven," Timothy announced, getting up. Hermione looked shocked.

"That late already?" she asked.

"Well…" Hannah began. "You two did spend a lot of time in the water." Hermione blushed and Terry yawned, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"I think I'll go and get some sleep too, especially if we have to get up so early," he told the two girls, giving Hermione a goodnight kiss.

"Well, then there's no point for us to stay awake either," Hermione told Hannah, who shook her head. The four entered their rooms, undressed and got into bed, dozing off almost at once.

* * *

The next morning was hazardous, as mornings usually are just before leaving. The four Hogwarts students were running around their hotel rooms looking for stuff they'd forgotten to pack. Timothy had been bothered in the middle of his 'relaxing' shower due to Hannah banging on the door saying she needed to get her things from the bathroom into her overloaded trunk. Timothy opened the door and let her in, wearing a towel around his waist with water dripping from his hair and body onto the floor while Hannah rummaged around, wondering where her hairbrush had run off to. 

"How's the shower coming along?" Hermione teased as she passed Timothy and entered the bathroom too. Timothy groaned; now it'd take even longer before he could hop back into the shower. When Terry entered the bathroom too, however, he just gave up and cast a quick drying spell, changing in his bedroom.

At eight o'clock everyone had their trunks packed, which vanished from sight, arriving in their rooms in Dijon. The four headed downstairs for a good strong breakfast before they'd try and find a taxi that would take them to the airport.

"Who's got the Muggle money?" Hermione asked, worried that she was the one responsible for it.

"Me," Timothy replied, shoving some eggs and bacon into his mouth.

"Good." Hermione said, giving a sigh of relief.

* * *

"Yes, can you take us to the airport, please?" Hermione asked the cab driver. He nodded and she beckoned to her friends to sit down. It was a quite uneventful ride to the airport and when they got out of the taxi they quickly headed into the airport and ran all through it trying to get to the right place at the right time. 

"No, no, no," Hermione said. "Gate two is over here to the right!"

"No it isn't, it's to the left," argued Timothy.

"Why don't we just mix the two and go straight ahead?" Terry asked. Hermione and Timothy shot him a nasty look before continuing their argument.

It was ten minutes later that they did arrive at the right gate, and just on time. The four handed their tickets and just as Timothy received his, he shot his head to the left, a nasty glint in his eye. The other three followed his gaze and, huddling in a corner, wearing the unmistakable grey robes, were two Death Eaters, whispering two each other. Before the students could do anything else they were shoved into the plane by a horde of French people, speaking rapidly with each other. The four Hogwarts students sat down in their seat, lost for words. Was it a coincidence that the Death Eaters had been here? Or had their letter with the next city and task been intercepted? Hermione reached for her neck and held on to the necklace that had come with her Halloween costume. The familiar touch of it calmed her down somewhat.

* * *

Nora was running through a long complicated maze, but wherever she went there was nothing indicating her nearing to the exit. From high above her she could hear a cold cruel laugh. She looked up and through the dark grey clouds and thunderous sky she could see the white face and red eyes of Voldemort, his features looking with pure glee. Nora sped up and turned corner after corner, running deeper into the maze, hearing Voldemort's high-pitched laugh above her all the time. 

"Run, little mudblood, run. For it is all you have in your power to escape the darkness that hides in this fascinating maze," he said, laughing at her. A shot of panic ran through Nora and she started running even faster, concentrating hard on finding the exit.

"Oh no, my sweet little child, there is no exit, you are doomed to be torn apart by the beast of all darkness that is following your scent." Nora's heart sank. There would be no way to get out of here; she'd be doomed to die a painful death.

"That is right." Voldemort laughed again, watching her run through the maze. It began to rain very hard and within minutes she was soaked. Voldemort alone could see where the beast was and it was quite a distance away. "You seem to be going in the very opposite direction the beast goes." Voldemort said. 'Good.' Nora thought, but another thought entered her head. 'What if it's trick? What if he wants you to keep running that way?' She started panicking again and decided to turn right at the next chance she got. It took quite for a right turn to come up, but when it did she ran into as fast as she could. 'What if that was his plan?' A thought told her. Nora didn't know what to do, and as usual when cranky, tired, annoyed and desperate to live, accidents occurred and this time she slipped in the mud, falling flat on her face.

"Very good," Voldemort said laughing hardly. Nora quickly got up and started running again, though she saw no point. She knew no one would be able to save her and the beast would catch up sooner or later. She might as well stop running right now and let the animal come and devour her. Just then she heard a voice, different from Voldemort.

"Just tell her, then," it said. Nora didn't know where it came from and saw no one except Voldemort's large face floating above her, laughing ever so horribly.

"I-I can't. I really want to, but I can't," Another voice replied as Nora turned yet another corner in the endless maze of doom. She had no idea where the voices were coming from and a little ray of hope had grown inside her. If there were other voices, surely there was a way out after all? Or maybe they'd be able to help her? A fork of lightning flashed across the sky, lighting the maze for a split second.

"Why not?" Asked the first voice. Nora kept running, the cold hard rain splashing against her body. There was still no sign of anyone the voices could belong to and judging by Voldemort's happy laughter and shouts of joy her doom was nearing her every second. She sped up again just as the other voice started to speak again.

"Oh please. You know what I've done to her the last few years, to you too," it said full of grief. But Nora wasn't paying attention, she concentrated hard on her running, another slip up would be fatal since she could now hear loud growls as well. There was a sudden fork of lightning right beside her and out of shock she fell painfully on her back, her whole body splattered with mud and what looked like… 'Blood?' She thought looking at her arms and stomach. Her whole t-shirt was covered with a dark red bloodstain, so were her arms. A loud rumbling growl made her look up and she stared into the eyes of evil.

There, staring at her, stood a gigantic leopard and instantly Nora knew what it was. She had learned the whole book of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' by heart and knew that the beast in front of her was a Nundu, the most dangerous animal in the world. The Nundu was a gigantic African leopard that moved silently, despite its size, and who's breath could cause disease virulent enough to eliminate entire villages. Fewer than a hundred skilled wizards working together had never yet subdued it. Nora knew her life was at an end; she would never be able to fight this beast with her bad wounds and no wand. The first voice spoke up again, as Nora and the Nundu stared in each other's eyes.

"Just tell Nora you love her, I know she'd at least consider what you said, Draco." Right after that the Nundu jumped, its mouth open wide and large pointy teeth glistening as rain fell as hard as ever. Nora let out a deafening scream as the Nundu's teeth sank painfully in her skin.

* * *

"Wake up, Nora. Wake up," a gentle voice said, as the person shook Nora lightly. Nora sat up gasping for breath, sweat covering her whole body. She looked around and saw Padma holding her shoulders and looking worried. Justin and Draco stood on the other side, looking just as scared as Padma. "I tried to wake you up as soon as possible," Padma said, letting go of Nora. 

"We were dead worried," said Justin. Nora just turned to look at him, she couldn't speak. The nightmare had been so horrible and real that she didn't think she could ever be happy again and now Dean wasn't there to comfort her anymore and… and… '_Oh, DEAN!_' Her mind screamed unhappily and devastated. Nora put her head in her hands and burst into tears. Everything was going wrong in her life. Everything.

"It's all right," Padma said. She sat down beside Nora and pulled her into a comforting embrace, rocking back and forth very slightly. Justin and Draco just stood there, not knowing what to do. After a while they left the room and sat on the sofa in silence.

Half an hour later Nora finally stopped crying and was quietly telling Padma about her nightmare, leaving out the voices she had heard.

"T-that's a-awful!" Exclaimed Padma when Nora had finished. Nora barely nodded her head.

"It was. I even felt t-the pain when it s-sank its jaws into m-me," she said, rubbing her throat, almost expecting to find teeth marks there.

"Horrible, just horrible," said Padma, shaking her head a little. "Do you want to sleep for a little bit more?" She asked.

"No," Nora replied quickly, she feared that if she'd go back to sleep again the nightmare would return.

"I understand. Want to join us in the living room, then? Maybe watch a little Tellievizion?" Padma asked, getting up from the bed. Nora nodded her head.

"When do we leave Canberra?" she asked.

"A portkey will take us to a northern city of Australia this afternoon at five to six sharp. We have to sleep in a tent there."

"All right then." Nora got up from her bed very slowly.

"Want to take a shower first?" Padma asked her. Nora nodded, giving a little smile. Padma knew exactly what she needed. "All right then, you go to the bathroom and I'll chose some clothes out for you. We're going to the beach today." Nora gave another nod and stalked off out of their room. She passed the boys in silence and they said nothing back, still shocked. Nora entered the bathroom and turned on the tap, filling the bathtub with hot water. She grabbed some bath foam and filled the whole bath with it. Padma entered a minute later carrying some clothes. She hung them on a rack and gave Nora a comforting hug before leaving the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Nora locked it, undressed and entered the warm bathtub.

She began to relax almost immediately and slowly the nightmare and Dean's death flooded into her mind and she burst out into tears again. She wished that she could go back to the ignorant girl she had been in her first, second and third year. Those were the years when no one had known Voldemort would keep trying to kill Harry Potter and any 'Mudbloods' every year. Those were the years when no one would have to die just because Voldemort wanted to rule the world again, when he hadn't killed anyone yet. Nora remembered that day in 4th year very well, when Harry had returned to the maze, clutching Cedric's dead body. The horror that had filled them all on that day, had returned to her the year after when Sirius had fallen into the mysterious veil. Harry's shouts were still vividly in her mind:

"Sirius!" He had yelled. "Sirius!" Harry had tried to run to the veil but Lupin had held him back.

"There's nothing you can do, Harry"

"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"

"It's too late, Harry"

"We can still reach him" Harry had struggled hard and vicious, but Lupin would not let go…

"There's nothing you can do, Harry… nothing… he's gone."

And now, half a year later, forty-seven more students had died, and Professor Spring, making it forty-eight. All these deaths were killing off every little bit of hope people had that good would win it over bad. She closed her eyes and rested for a while, hot tears streaming down her face. She heard a soft knock on the door and lifted her head up.

"Yes?" she asked.

"It's me, Padma. Justin and I are going for a walk, is that ok?" Padma asked.

"Yes, go ahead. Have fun," Nora replied, trying to sound normal.

"We'll be back within half an hour. Draco will be there if you need anything. Don't stay in the bath too long or you'll get all wrinkly. Bye!" Nora laughed softly. "I heard that," Padma added happily.

"I bet you did. Bye!" Nora closed her eyes again and a minute later she heard the main door close. Nora decided to follow Padma's advice and she got out of the tub not to too long after the couple had left. She changed into the white shirt and blue shorts Padma had laid out for her and put her hair quickly into a high ponytail. She found Draco sitting in the sofa glaring at the remote control and then pushing the buttons frantically, his tongue sticking out again. Inwardly Nora smiled, but she felt too devastated to show any emotions on the outside. Draco smelled her scent before he'd even noticed she was there and turned to look at her.

"Help!" he said, holding the remote control of the television out to her. Nora shook her head slightly, trying to smile, as she walked up to him and grabbed the remote control. She sat down beside him and taught him how to use it again. "Uh-huh. Thanks," Draco told her and turned the T.V. on. Nora sat quietly beside him, realizing slowly that the voices she had heard during her nightmare with the maze had been Justin's and Draco's and the conversation sprang to her mind. '_He loves me,_' she thought. All the while she'd just thought he'd had a crush on her and that it would pass eventually, but if he loved her it'd take a much longer time to overcome. She knew she didn't feel the same thing for him. Just friendship. What she had been thinking the other night in his room was wrong. He was a close friend. Nora suddenly remembered Justin had told Draco to tell her how he felt. And she completely panicked when Draco turned his head to look at her and opened his mouth. She had to think of something, '_QUICKLY!_' her mind shouted. She looked at Draco too and quickly said:

"I want something to drink, do you want something to drink? I'm getting something to drink." And she quickly got up and walked to the table in the corner where they kept a large bottle of water.

"Er… I'll have some water, too," Draco said hesitantly. Nora gave a quick nod and poured some water for him too. She brought the two cups back to the sofa and handed him his, drinking her water hastily. Apparently Draco had lost his courage because he didn't try to say anything else.

When Padma and Justin returned they immediately grabbed their things and headed for the beach, which was absolutely wonderful. The water was a light blue along with turquoise, the sand was a very light yellow colour and the sun was welcomingly warm. Nora and Padma lay down on their towels to sunbathe while Justin and Draco headed for the water.

"This is so comfortable," Padma said.

"I know, how come we never thought of it before?" Nora asked, but inside she continued to stay deeply troubled.

"I don't know, but shopping is nothing compared to this, and here the boys have something to do, too, instead of following us everywhere and whine and nag at our heads."

"Exactly." The two girls turned around and lay on their stomachs so that their backs could get a little colour too. Lying there in the sun was so comfortable that they slowly dozed off and were woken up a while later due to something cold on their backs.

"What's that?" Padma asked, lifting her head. Nora did the same thing, rubbing her face with two hands in tiredness.

"No, no, no, stay down. It's sun lotion, you'll get sunburned if you don't get some protection soon," Justin said, rubbing the sun lotion on Padma's back, which was already a bit red. Nora could only guess that Draco was smearing the white liquid on her. She laid her forehead back down on her folded arms, frowning as she tried hard not to cry, and Draco gave a soft sigh of relief, worried she would've objected. After both girls had carefully and fully been rubbed in with lotion they both got up and ran into the cool water, to cool off. Justin and Draco stood watching.

"Well, that was useful," Justin said, folding his arms.

"Yes. Now we'll have to smear them in again when they come back out," Draco replied.

"Not that I mind, but they could've waited a while," said Justin, grinning sheepishly.

"Right." Draco sighed.

"Aw, come on buddy," Justin said, slapping Draco on the back. "I know she'll get there someday." Padma turned around and beckoned the two boys to come join them. They dropped the sun lotion tubes and ran into the water to join the girls in a water fight.

* * *

"That certainly was fun," Padma said as the four walked out of the hotel with the stuff they needed. 

"Too bad we didn't think of it before, though," Justin replied. They made their way through a couple of busy streets and finally reached a dark alley where a rotten stick lay.

"That's our portkey," Draco said, pointing at it. The four grabbed the stick and Justin looked at his watch. "Barely on time, just three more minutes." They gripped the stick tighter. Draco looked out of the alley to the street where a car drove past. He froze. The others followed his gaze. Standing in the opening were three Death Eaters, whispering. One of them looked at the four and nudged his colleagues.

"Over there," he said gruffly. The other two Death Eaters looked over at the four, too, and immediately started walking to them in a fast pace. They were only a couple of feet away when the four felt the familiar tug at their bellybutton.

"Aw, too bad," Draco said and they vanished from sight.

* * *

(_A/N_: Writers block just kicked in.)

* * *

Ron and Lavender made their way back to the hotel where they'd meet Mandy and Goyle. The two walked the streets holding hands and chatting happily. 

"We thought you'd forgotten," Mandy said, when Ron and Lavender finally arrived.

"No, we were just… held up for a while," Ron replied, his ears turning red.

"I see," Mandy said, smiling at Lavender who was blushing a little bit, too. "Goyle?" She asked, for Goyle was staring at something down the street with intense concentration.

"We'd better go," he said.

"What? Why?" Lavender replied, she looked at where Goyle was staring, a far distance away three people were standing together.

"Let's go," Goyle repeated and he quickly walked into the opposite direction. The others followed reluctantly.

"Goyle, why are we in such a hurry?" Ron asked, trying to keep up with his large strides.

"Nothing, just hurry." He looked around his back and began walking even faster. "What can take us to the airport?" He asked Lavender and Mandy.

"A Taxi," Mandy replied confused. She looked around for one, but couldn't find it.

"Ok," Goyle said, looking back once more. The other three did the same thing and gasped. The three people from the other side of the street were not too far behind them and were dressed in grey cloaks.

"Death Eaters?" Lavender said, unbelievingly. "Death Eaters? I thought we were safe from them!"

"Nope," Goyle replied. He broke into a run and the others quickly followed his example. The four students ran as fast as they could from the Death Eaters and turned every corner they could, trying to shake Voldemort's supporters off their track.

"Where is a taxi when you need one!" Lavender shouted.

"There's one," Mandy replied, pointing a far bit ahead. The four started running faster, the Death Eaters still behind them.

"Wait up!" Ron yelled at the taxi, hoping it wouldn't leave at the last minute.

"It can't hear you, Ron," Lavender said, trying to gasp for breath. They had finally reached the taxi and the Death Eaters were right behind them. The four entered and Goyle quickly yelled:

"LONDON AIRPORT, QUICK!" The cab driver nodded and stepped on the gas pedal just as one of the Death Eaters tried to pull open the door next to Ron. Ron pulled at it in all his might, trying to close it again. Finally the Death Eater fell behind and Ron closed his door properly.

The four got out of the taxi at the London airport and Mandy paid the driver. They entered the main entrance and walked straight to gate nine, the sooner they got on the plane the better. Still tired out from their run around the city they gave their flight tickets to the man on duty and started to walk down the little passage that was connected to the plane.

"WAIT!" yelled a voice. The four turned around and saw the three Death Eaters standing in the large hall, Muggles looking at them with bemused expressions on their faces. The Death Eaters started moving forward and the four students quickly ran into the passage. They heard the man that took the tickets ask:

"Do you have a ticket?"

"What? No!" A Death Eater replied, confused.

"Then I can't let you enter. Please step aside. A stick? Are you threatening me?"

"Avada Kedavra!" The four students gasped as they heard the death bringing words and a 'thump'. Mandy took out the contact device from her bag and quickly summoned Dumbledore. He appeared a few seconds later with McGonagall, Snape and Flitwick.

"What is the problem?" He asked seriously.

"D-Death E-E-Eaters," Lavender replied, shakily. The four Hogwarts Professors immediately walked out of the passage and quickly began a small battle. Screams from Muggles could be heard. The four students slowly walked into the airplane, not wanting to be near. Ron and Goyle were too subdued and scared to look around in amazement. They just plopped down into the seat Lavender and Mandy showed them. So far the trip idea had failed. They were not safe from the Death Eaters.

* * *

When Harry and Parvati finally finished snogging it was quite a while later and Crystal-Rose and Crabbe had already gone back upstairs to change. Harry and Parvati did the same thing. They took turns showering and when they were all finished packing the four plopped down on the sofa and turned on the T.V.; their portkey wouldn't take them away for another hour, so they decided to relax a bit. 

"This is such a cool movie," Crystal-Rose said. Parvati nodded. They were watching Die Hard with a Vengeance.

"Bruce Willis is so cool," Parvati said.

"I feel left out," Harry told her, pouting.

"Aw, you're cool too," Parvati replied. "It's just you wouldn't be able to all of that," she said, pointing to the television screen.

"No, but I can do some magic." Parvati smiled.

"We all can," she told Harry, and then turned back to watch the movie again. Harry watched her a little while, smiling, before turning back to the movie too.

* * *

So where do we go?" Crystal-Rose asked. Harry and Goyle looked at the map. 

"Erm… I think that way," Harry said pointing to the right. They walked left, turned a couple of corners, back tracked a little and asked a few Muggles the way before they were finally where they were supposed to be: A small dirty alley with a few large trash containers.

"What's our portkey?" Crystal-Rose asked.

"Knickers," Crabbe replied in disgust.

"Gross," Parvati said. They searched around but couldn't find it.

"There it is," Harry told the others, pointing to dirty knickers on the floor. The four were all very reluctant to grab it, but as they had to leave London they eventually did. Goyle looked to the entrance of the alley.

"Quick, behind here," he said. The others just caught a glimpse of what had made him drag them behind one of the trash containers: four Death Eaters.

"What are they doing here?" Harry whispered to Crabbe, who shrugged.

"I don't know, they better not find us, or else we're as good as dead," he whispered back. The two girls clung to the dirty knickers out of fright. It was true; if the Death Eaters found them they'd surely be killed.

"Shhhh... I think they're coming closer," Harry whispered. He pressed a finger to his lips and they all stayed silent.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" A voice asked cruelly. "Master will be pleased with this, now won't he?" Three more Death Eaters appeared by his sides, they were all sneering, though it couldn't be seen due to their mask. The four Death Eaters reached for the students all at once, just as they, the students, felt the tug at their bellybutton and vanished from sight.

* * *

_A/N_: I know, not as long as the previous chapters, but I'm running low on ideas. Hope you liked it though. 


	25. Voldemort's Amulet

**Chapter 25: Voldemort's Amulet**

Ron, Lavender, Mandy and Goyle sat in the airplane in silence, the sounds of the ticket man still in their head. How long would this keep going? How many more innocent people would need to die? They didn't know. What they did know was that Harry was the only one who could put a stop to it.

Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape and Flitwick walked up to the four students, who looked up startled.

"The Ministry has taken the Death Eaters. Do you have any idea how they found you?" Dumbledore asked. The students shook their heads.

"They did follow us." Mandy said. "They followed us all through London and then when we were in a taxi Goyle yelled: "London airport, quick," when a Death Eater pulled open the door, maybe he heard." Dumbledore nodded.

"That might be an idea. But how did they know where you were staying?" The students shrugged.

"Albus… another group is calling us." McGonagall told Dumbledore. He nodded.

"We'll leave you now. Take care." With that they walked out of the airplane and Disapparated.

"Wonder who called them?" Ron asked half an hour later, when the plane was in the air.

* * *

"What's taking so long?" Parvati asked impatiently just as Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape and Flitwick Apparated by her side.

"What's the problem?" Dumbledore asked immediately.

"Death Eaters," Harry said promptly.

"Surely not here?" asked McGonagall.

"No, back in London. They nearly got us when the portkey took us to away," Harry replied.

"Peculiar. You're the second group that has been pestered by Death Eaters today. Ron and his group had a close counter, too." Dumbledore said, stroking his beard. "We'll need to find a different way of sending the tasks and cities, Minerva. Snape, see if you can find anything out."

"Yes, Albus," Snape replied, then he Disapparated.

"I wonder why the Death Eaters are being so clumsy. Showing themselves in public area's… surely Voldemort isn't so stupid. The Ministry would be able to catch them in a matter of seconds. He must be getting desperate," said Dumbledore thoughtfully. He turned back to the group. "We'll leave now, take care, and warn us if there is anything suspicious going on."

"Yes, sir," the four students replied. Dumbledore, McGonagall and Flitwick Disapparated too.

"Ron's group has been attacked, too? I hope they're ok," said Parvati anxiously.

"Don't worry, they are. Otherwise Dumbledore would have said something about it," Harry replied.

"Let's just go to the Hotel. I don't feel safe standing here in the middle of nowhere," said Crystal-Rose, looking around suspiciously.

"Actually we're staying in a tent here. But let's go find a place to set it up," Crabbe agreed. Harry and Parvati nodded. They took out the map and Harry and Crabbe led them to an open space by the beach.

"Right here?" asked Parvati. Harry nodded.

"Yup. Who has the tent?"

"Me," Crabbe answered. He got a small package out of his bag and put it on the ground. "Engorgio," he said and the little package expanded. In a few seconds their tent was standing in front of them.

"Kind of small, isn't it?" Crystal-Rose asked. Obviously she'd never been in a wizard tent.

"Don't worry about that," Crabbe said smiling. He crawled into the small tent and Crystal followed his example. After that Harry and Parvati entered. They walked into a cozy living room with a small fireplace and two comfy couches. On the right were a small kitchen and a dining table with four seats. On the opposite side we're three doors. The one in the middle led to a bathroom and the other two each led to a bedroom with two beds.

"Wow," Crystal-Rose said, looking around amazed.

"It's a bit small, but we'll manage," Parvati said, sitting down on one of the sofa's.

"A bit small? Are you kidding? Muggle tents are nothing compared to this!" Crystal exclaimed.

"All right, all right. Calm down."

* * *

Ron and his group landed near the beach a short while later. They walked around the airport in silence and wandered to the Hotel saying nothing to each other. Ron and Goyle were leading the way with a map they had received. Unlike Harry and his group they'd be staying in a hotel, a wizard hotel.

They entered their hotel rooms and silently sat down in front of a large fireplace. Even though there wasn't any air-conditioning, it was pleasantly cool in the Hotel.

"I hate this," Mandy said all of a sudden.

"What?" Goyle asked, staring at the fireplace.

"What Voldemort and his supporters are doing. Just killing any innocent people that get in the way." They all stared wide-eyed at Lavender who began singing:

"Ain't that just the way that life goes down, down, down, down. Movin' way too fast and much too slow. We're getting' up, getting' high, getting' down, getting' no, no, nowhere," she sang quietly. A tear trickled down Lavender's cheek and Ron put an arm around her.

"It's all right," he said. Lavender sniffed and shook her head. No one said anything. A tapping sound came from the window and Ron got up to let Hedwig in. She hooted at him and he took the piece of parchment that was tied around her leg.

"I'm just going to go read this in my room," he said. The others didn't say anything. He went into his room and closed the door.

_Dear Ron,_

_I never told you, Nora or Hermione anything about my dreams and I've decided that I should. My dreams are being pestered a lot more by flashes of meetings that Voldemort has with his Death Eaters and one item keeps returning: The Amulet of Era's. I've heard the name a few times now and I'm quite sure this is what he was looking for the night Neville was attacked and when we were hiding out behind the tapestry, but I remember not having put it on the list or reading about it in one of the books from the library._

_Voldemort wants this Amulet really badly and he thinks it's somewhere in Hogwarts, or that one of the students has it. Maybe that's why all those students were killed… I don't know. I've written a letter like this to Nora and Hermione, too._

_Harry_

Ron finished the letter. '_So Voldemort is after the Amulet of Era's?_' he thought. '_And he thinks it's in Hogwarts?_' this wasn't making sense at all. If something this important were hidden at Hogwarts surely Dumbledore would've known Voldemort would attack one of these days. Unless… '_Dumbledore doesn't know it's at Hogwarts._' Ron was still confused but left his bedroom so as not to make the others suspicious.

* * *

Nora, Padma, Justin and Draco landed on bare Australian ground with a 'thud'. They didn't bother to get up.

"How on earth were Death Eaters able to find us?" Padma exclaimed. "We could've been killed!"

"I know. Keep it down, or we'll make people suspicious," Justin whispered.

"What do you mean: We'll make people suspicious? There's no one around for about five miles! We're all alone in this god forsaken country!" she yelled. Justin decided to let it go. He got up and grabbed the tent out of his bag and enlarged it. The four quickly entered it; staying outside was just a bit too warm in Australia.

"Who's got the contacting device?" Draco asked.

"Why?" Questioned Padma.

"I'm telling Dumbledore," replied Draco.

"Telling Dumbledore what?" Asked Padma.

"About the Death Eaters," Draco said, disturbed. Nora took the device out of her bag and handed it to him, not saying anything. "Thanks." She just nodded. A few minutes later Dumbledore arrived, McGonagall by his side.

"What is it?" Dumbledore asked, looking weary.

"Death Eaters were after us. We barely escaped by portkey," Draco explained immediately.

"You, too?" McGonagall asked. "Albus, don't you think this is strange?"

"Certainly, Minerva," Dumbledore replied. He seemed lost in thought.

"Excuse me, Professor?"

"Yes, Mr. Finch-Fletchley." McGonagall asked.

"Which other group has seen Death Eaters?"

"Group 3a and 3b. I daresay they were nearly killed," McGonagall said quietly.

"Harry and Ron?" Nora asked. "Are they hurt?"

"No, thank goodness not. They're quite all right," replied McGonagall.

"Minerva, we're being called again," Dumbledore said. And with a quick "Take care." The two Disapparated. There was a weird noise coming from one of the windows. Draco got up, opened it and in flew a brown owl. Nora immediately took it to her bedroom and started to read Harry's letter:

_Dear Nora,_

_I never told you, Hermione or Ron anything about my dreams and I've decided that I should. My dreams are being pestered a lot more by flashes of meetings that Voldemort has with his Death Eaters and one item keeps returning: The Amulet of Era's. I've heard the name a few times now and I'm quite sure this is what he was looking for the night Neville was attacked and when we were hiding out behind the tapestry, but I remember not having put it on the list or reading about it in one of the books from the library._

_Voldemort wants this Amulet really badly and he thinks it's somewhere in Hogwarts, or that one of the students has it. Maybe that's why all those students were killed… I don't know. I've written a letter like this to Hermione and Ron, too._

_Harry_

Nora finished reading. So Voldemort was looking for the Amulet of Era's? She had never heard of it before, but if Voldemort was seeking it then it must've been very powerful. She entered the living room again and let the unfamiliar owl fly out the window with a small response.

* * *

Hermione sat on her bed in the Hotel in Florida reading a letter she had gotten from Harry, though Hedwig had not been the one who had delivered it.

_Dear Hermione,_

_I never told you, Nora or Ron anything about my dreams and I've decided that I should. My dreams are being pestered a lot more by flashes of meetings that Voldemort has with his Death Eaters and one item keeps returning: The Amulet of Era's. I've heard the name a few times now and I'm quite sure this is what he was looking for the night Neville was attacked and when we were hiding out behind the tapestry, but I remember not having put it on the list or reading about it in one of the books from the library._

_Voldemort wants this Amulet really badly and he thinks it's somewhere in Hogwarts, or that one of the students has it. Maybe that's why all those students were killed… I don't know. I've written a letter like this to Nora and Ron, too._

_Harry_

Hermione sighed as she folded the letter again. She had heard of The Amulet of Era's before. She had read it in one of the library books, but she couldn't remember which one it was or anything about the mysterious Amulet. Just then Siberia flew into her room. Hermione took the shrunken letter out of the bird's beak, enlarged it and began to read.

_Dear Hermione,_

_Glad I could make you feel better. I always knew Terry would be good to you. Anyway now it's your turn to make me feel better because I'm really not very happy. This evening when we were walking back to the Hotel from a lovely dinner, Draco and I decided to take a walk in the park while Justin and Padma entered a café. We were quite tipsy; Draco had ordered wine during dinner, and we were having a pretty good time. We lay down to watch the stars and then we… kissed! Passionately. He made the first move but I did nothing to stop him. It was… pleasant, but I can't be thinking that way! It's all so confusing. Please help me. Please! I wish Dean were still here…_

_But I'm going to try to push the events aside for now because I want to get back to what you said about Voldemort. I also think Voldemort is seeking the Amulet again and according to me he thinks it's hidden somewhere in Hogwarts castle. I surely hope his plan to get more Death Eaters is failing because after what happened… when we were in our hideout… it was horrible…_

_I miss you too, write back soon because I really don't know what to do!_

_Love,_

_Nora _

_P.S. I just asked Draco and he said he'd see what he could do to make Pansy stop teasing you… we just kissed again. Oh my god, HELP!_

Hermione was shocked. What was Nora doing kissing a Slytherin? Twice? It was getting too absurd. When she entered the living room she saw that Dumbledore and McGonagall were there too.

"So you say Death Eaters were standing there?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes," Timothy said.

"Did they do anything, try to capture you?" McGonagall questioned.

"No, but I don't think they saw us." Terry told her.

"Dear, dear. Albus, this is the fourth group so far, and only the groups that had… you know… in it."

"Yes, I can see that, Minerva. This is very strange, very strange indeed."

"Who else saw Death Eaters?" Hannah asked curiously.

"Groups 2a, 3a and 3b."

"What?" Hermione shouted. Everyone looked at her. "Are Harry, Nora and Ron all right?"

"Yes, Ms. Granger, they are feeling fine. I'm afraid we must leave now. Take care and watch out or further more Death Eaters," Dumbledore said. He gave a small smile and then he and McGonagall Disapparated.

* * *

Every time when Harry, Hermione, Nora and Ron's group would leave for their next destination Death Eaters would be around. After the close escapes the four groups would tell Dumbledore what had happened and every time Dumbledore would say they were the only ones this happened to.

Somewhere around mid February Harry had written another letter to his friends:

_Dear Ron, Hermione and Nora,_

_I have had another Voldemort dream. It contained some new information but I cannot figure out what it means: There's the usual talk about the Amulet of Era's but Voldemort told his Death Eaters that it is not in Hogwarts. _'One of the five has it.'_ Were his exact words. I haven't been able to figure out who or what 'the five' are because that was when I woke up with my scar hurting again._

_Harry_

None of them could figure out what Voldemort had meant and they were left in the dark until…

_Dear Harry, Nora and Ron,_

_I've got it! I am currently in a wizard city and decided to look up information on the Amulet of Era's. It took a long time, about five hours, but I have it:_

**The Amulet of Era's is a powerful and mysterious gem that has the ability to change colors. Because this amazing Amulet has not been sighted for over one thousand years no one knows what it looks like, but it is said that the Amulet is connected with both Good and Evil. If Good is feeling very strong emotions or powerful the Amulet will give off a bright blue light. If Evil is at a particular powerful stage, however, the Amulet will shine a bright red light.**

**Rumors have gone around for years that the Amulet of Era's has the power to send people and items to the past or the future. Also told is that it can heal every human being and animal, destroy anything and it's touch can bring new hope and strength into anyone. It is said Merlin made this powerful Amulet and that nothing can destroy it.**

_Well? Interesting isn't it? No wonder Voldemort is after it, it would make him the most powerful wizard in the whole world again._

_Love,_

_Hermione_

Hermione's information definitely gave them a bigger idea of what it was Voldemort was after but it made them worry a lot more. If Voldemort got his hands on the Amulet then even Harry wouldn't be able to save them. Needless to say Harry was being squished by the pressure and was sleeping less and less. It wasn't until Parvati gave him a dreamless sleeping potion that he got a good rest. She kept on giving it to him, of course.

After about nine more accidental snogging sessions Nora and Draco had finally gotten together and they were thoroughly enjoying the trip with Padma and Justin, though Nora was constantly thinking about Voldemort and the Amulet.

Hermione was doing quite well, too. Pansy had stopped picking on her, thanks to whatever Draco had done. She was constantly with Terry and had good laughs with Timothy and Hannah who kept bickering about the littlest of things.

Harry and Ron spent a lot of time with Parvati and Lavender walking through the cities they were in. Sure, McGonagall had said that teams a and b weren't allowed to spend that much time together but, well, they didn't care.

Around the end of April and begin May Nora and Draco were walking through the streets of Sydney when all of a sudden they weren't there anymore and instead were lying on top of each other on a cold marble floor.

"Draco?" Nora asked.

"Yes?"

"Get off me." Draco gave a little perverted smile.

"No, I'm very comfortable with this position thank you." He wriggled his eyebrows. Nora rolled her eyes and laughed

"I'm sure you are. Get off." Draco looked straight into her eyes and once again could not resist the urge to kiss her. So he did. They were snogging fully when they heard two thumps and a yell.

"Nora? … WHAT THE -?" Nora and Draco both stopped kissing and turned to look at Harry who was furiously scrambling up.

"Oh crap," muttered Nora, her stomach vanishing completely. She had told Hermione about dating Draco, but she had kept it secret from Harry and Ron and them snogging on the floor of some unknown room sure looked suspicious.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" questioned Harry. Ron scrambled up and stood next to his best friend, glaring at the two on the floor. Draco quickly took his hand off of Nora's breast and Nora took her hand off Draco's firm and lovely ass. (_A/N_: drool, drool).

"Er… nothing." replied Nora, trying to sound casual.

"NOTHING? MALFOY, GET OFF OF HER!" Harry yelled. Ron just stood beside him, nodding furiously. Draco stood up and then helped up Nora. The two quickly brushed off their clothes. Harry and Ron kept glaring at them.

"So…" said Nora thinking hard of something to say. "What's up?" She asked. She mentally slapped herself for thinking of something so stupid.

"Nice one," muttered Draco.

"What's up?" Ron yelled, speaking up at last. "WHAT'S UP? WE COME HERE AND FIND YOU TWO, GRYFFINDOR AND SLYTHERIN, GOOD AND EVIL, EACH OTHER'S WORST ENEMY, SNOGGING! EXPLAIN!"

"Er… we're… uhm…" Nora couldn't think of any more dumb excuses so she decided to tell the truth. "The truth is… we're… going out," she muttered quickly.

"You're what?" Harry asked, looking confused. Nora cleared her throat.

"Dating," she muttered again but Harry and Ron were still looking confused, obviously they couldn't hear her.

"Speak clearly, will you?" demanded Ron agitated. Nora sighed, while Draco just stood silently beside her, having decided to let her clear this up with her friends herself.

"We're dating, all right? Dating," Nora told her two friends.

"You're… WHAT?" There was another explosion, nearly killing off everyone's hearing.

"Just let it go, Harry," Nora muttered. She had already gone through this when she had told them that she was forced to go to the Halloween Ball with Draco. This was definitely not worth her time.

"No! I won't let it go! You're dating Draco! You're betraying us!" Harry shouted promptly, pointing an accusing finger at her.

"Fine, then. So what if I am betraying you," Nora said, crossing her arms. Harry and Ron goggled at her. Was she risking her friendship with them for a… Slytherin?

"You're actually going to go through with… him… if that means it'll end our friendship," stated Harry unbelievingly. Nora nodded her head resolutely, arms still crossed. Just then Hermione landed in between the two pairs standing across each other. She got up off the ground, looked at the angry faces and knew.

"Guess they found out, then," she told Nora, who looked at her, helplessly and sorrowfully; if Dean had never died… oh this would never have happened!

"Yeah," she replied softly. Harry decided then that it was another good time to yell.

"HERMIONE? YOU KNEW? YOU KNEW AND YOU DIDN'T TELL US?"

"I was asked not to, and I didn't want to either. Just look at how you react!" Hermione said angrily. Harry decided to glare at Nora again, instead of respond. Hermione walked over to Nora and gave her friend a hug when a door to the left opened and Dumbledore walked out.

"I see that you are all here. Come in," he said and he re-entered the room. The students followed him silently, glaring at each other. There were five chairs in a row, Dumbledore standing in front of them. "Sit," he told them, motioning to the chairs. Draco sat at the far right, Nora beside him, Hermione beside her, Ron reluctantly next to her and Harry at the far left. They stared at Dumbledore intently.

"I have found some information that is of interest. This is being told to you because you each have a part in the defeat of Voldemort." The students looked at him in shock, except Harry. "The thing Voldemort is after is the Amulet of Era's. He believes that it is located in Hogwarts. This Amulet holds immense strength and is connected to both Good and Evil. The problem is it hasn't been sighted for over one thousand years and no one knows what it looks like." The five students looked at him in boredom, except for Draco, to whom this information was new. "I assume that you four have already figured this out?" Dumbledore asked, the familiar twinkle dancing happily in his eye. Harry, Nora, Hermione and Ron nodded. "Do any of you NOT want to help in Voldemort's defeat?" Dumbledore asked. No one raised their hand, except…

"You do not want to help, Draco?" Dumbledore asked.

"I do, it's just… I don't want Nora to," Draco said quietly.

"You what now?" asked Nora in disbelief, looking at Draco. He turned his head to her.

"I don't want you to get killed. I think it's safer if you don't fight, neither should Hermione."

"What?" Hermione asked him, eyebrows raised.

"Draco," Nora said. She got up and turned around to look at him, not knowing why on earth he was doing this. "What if you get killed? Then I'll keep telling myself that if I'd been there I could have made a difference."

"Still, it'd be better if you and Hermione just stayed out of this."

"Draco, I can't. I've been fighting Voldemort since the first year with Harry, Hermione and Ron. Not fighting this year would make me feel useless. I need to fight. I need to… for… for Dean." She was beginning to well up and tried hard not to let any tears escape, her eyes stinging painfully with the effort it took.

"Me, Harry and Ron will fight for the lives of those students who were killed," Draco said. The others remained quiet, not daring to interfere.

"No, Draco," said Nora, shaking her head, not believing she was having this conversation with him. "You can't just make me stay away from that battle."

"But what if you get killed? Have you any idea how I'd feel?" Draco exclaimed, standing up too.

"Well, what if _you_ get murdered? I've already lost someone I loved! When… when Dean died I felt like I'd _never_ be happy again… I mourned for days, for weeks, for months. I had made up my mind to _never_ fall in love again and yet you crept your way into my heart and I _don't_ want to feel like my heart is being ripped out, _ever_ again! I wouldn't be able to live like that and if you go into that battle and make me stay home then I'd feel pretty close anyway! You can't expect me to just sit around while you go and risk your life to defeat Voldemort! Either you decide we go into that battle together, with Harry, Hermione and Ron, or I'm out of your life _forever_," Nora yelled at him, straining hard to keep her tears inside, anger flowing through her veins. Draco hung his head, but looked up again only seconds later.

"I'm sorry. I want you to stay away from Voldemort," Draco told her, close to tears himself. As he said it he could see Nora's heart break. That look of sadness that had been in her eyes for months after Dean had died suddenly returned at full blast and it frightened him. Inside Nora had known that would be his reply, but still she felt devastated. Her heart was forced to endure so much strain again as a million emotions washed over her, but she still managed to say, in a calm, cold and distant voice:

"Then it's over." Not a second later a light blue light shot out of Hermione's necklace, giving the room an eerie blue glow. Harry, Nora, Hermione and Ron stared at the necklace around Hermione's neck.

"The Amulet of Era's," Harry, Ron and Hermione whispered.

* * *

_A/N_: Aw… sad chapter. Anyhow, perhaps you feel like reviewing? 


	26. The Eerie and Sinister Castle

_A/N_: Sorry this chapter took so long, but here it is:

**Chapter 26: The Eerie and Sinister Castle**

The light blue glow coming from Hermione's necklace kept filling the room with an eerie glow. Nora sat back down in her seat and stared at the Amulet, tears blurring her vision. Different colors of blue were swirling around, yet they never mixed.

"Well, it seems we have found what Voldemort is looking for. This means we have a large advantage," Dumbledore said, completely ignoring the fight that had occurred between Nora and Draco. Draco sat down, too, and watched his headmaster. He wanted to hold Nora's hand and hug her real close, but he'd blown his chance at that. Draco mentally beat himself up. He had always thought he'd never be able to have her, and now that he did, he ruined his chance. To his painful regret, he realized that it was definitely over; she'd never have him back. He'd broken her heart now, too. Draco heard slight gasps and he looked up to find the room in an even brighter shade of blue.

"The last few months will be spent training in this castle for the final fight. It is unplotable, so no one will be able to find us. You will also sleep and eat here. Now some more information: It is rumored that Voldemort will plan an attack soon and since you five are the only ones that can defeat him, I want you to be fully trained so none will get hurt. Training will start tomorrow at eleven o'clock sharp. I will leave you to explore the castle now," Dumbledore finished, with a twinkle in his eyes. He smiled at the five students as they immediately got up and left the room, talking excitedly, except Nora and Draco.

They all went separate ways and Hermione and Nora walked through a door and found themselves in a brightly lit corridor.

"What do you think this is?" Hermione asked. Nora looked up from the ground.

"As long as it's not some creepy dungeon where the corpses of tortured people lay, I'm happy," she replied. Of course this wasn't true. She could not remember any other time when she had felt more miserable and lost, except for when Dean had been murdered. Hermione glanced sideways at her best friend but said nothing. Instead she walked forward and opened a door on the right, walking inside after a short glance. Nora guessed that if her friend had entered it, it was safe, so she walked through the doorway, too, but couldn't see Hermione. In fact, she couldn't see at all.

"Hermione?" She called out, but she couldn't hear her voice or anything else. Nora began to panic. What was going on? Why wasn't she able to see and hear? Nora carefully took a step forward. She stuck her arms out and tried to feel her way around the room, hoping not to feel anything hairy or slimy along the way. She walked forward very slowly but felt nothing. No wall, no furniture and no monsters. Her heart was racing and she was very close to bursting into tears. She had just gone through a horrible fight, now hating the one she had begun to love, and she was stuck in a never-ending room, for no matter how far she walked, no walls were felt. Nora began feeling so alone, scared and desperate that she turned around and started running, hoping to find the exit, her arms stretched out in front of her. She didn't care if she fell, all she wanted was to get out of this room.

Nora was panicking so much that she tripped and fell to the floor, her hands breaking her fall a bit. Tears slid down her face as she determinedly got up again, running to find the exit once more. It seemed ages until she finally felt her hands touch solid wall. She moved to the right, feeling for an opening. The exit came quickly and she ran out of the creepy room. She stopped and collapsed on the floor, breathing hard. Nora felt an arm around her and quickly looked up, only to find Hermione kneel beside her and pull her into a hug. She burst into tears and sobbed for what felt like hours, her best friend just sitting beside her and comforting her, rocking her back and forth.

Hermione had gotten out of the room a while ago, using all of her knowledge, and had waited outside in the hall, hoping Nora would come out soon. And she knew that Nora's crying wasn't about the uncanny room anymore. This was about Draco.

When Nora had stopped sobbing the two girls got up and walked back into the beautiful hall they had landed in before their meeting with Dumbledore. Hermione walked up the large staircase that stood there and they found themselves in another splendid hall. Hermione opened the first door, which was on the left, and walked into the room with Nora. It turned out to be a bedroom. There was a king-size bed with a beautiful closet and a wonderful rug lay on the floor at the foot of the bed.

"Wonder who this belongs to?" Hermione asked. Nora just shrugged, tears shining on her face. She walked past Hermione, who was inspecting the curtains, and out onto the balcony. She looked around and saw a large Quidditch pitch surrounded by an even larger meadow, though there was a large forest to the right. She looked down and guessed they were about three stories up. The large urge to jump was forming inside her. Looking back up and shoving her suicidal feelings aside Nora noticed dots flying around in the Quidditch pitch. There were three of them and because one was making a spectacular dive to the ground, she guessed they were Harry, Ron and Draco. Nora closed her eyes, heaved a great, shuddering sigh and walked quickly back inside, not wanting to cry again. Instead, she wanted to take a walk in the forest.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked as Nora rushed past her.

"The forest."

"Want me to go with you? Incase you get lost?" Hermione quickly added. That wasn't the only reason she wanted to go with Nora. She didn't really want to leave her best friend alone now that she was in a most vulnerable state. Nora shrugged.

"I guess," she replied, and then walked out of the room, Hermione following her. The two girls went down a few flights of stairs and finally stood outside in the meadow. It was a beautiful first day of March and a warm breeze ruffled their hair as Nora led both of them to the right side and into the forest.

As they wandered in between the trees they went deeper and deeper into the forest where less sunlight was able to make its way through the thick packet of flora. Nora would rather have it that Hermione wasn't there, but on the other hand she felt a lot safer with her.

Hermione wandered alongside Nora into the forest. Her mind was going through all of the past events. They had the Amulet of Era's, so they were in the lead. Voldemort would just attempt to retrieve Amulet from Hogwarts. On the other hand, Voldemort had ruined their lives. He had caused mayhem and destruction and Hermione knew things would never be the same again. At least not for a long while. She hated to see her best friend like this. And for the second time, too. Hermione sighed. Nora was going to go through the second mourning process in less than half a year, something that could definitely not be good for a teenager. Hermione looked up. She heard water. A waterfall? In the middle of a forest? She saw Nora standing still behind a large bush. Hermione walked over to her and the sound of running water grew louder and louder.

"Wow," Hermione whispered as she stood next to Nora. In front of them was a large water pool with climbing rocks and a beautiful waterfall. "Let's go swim," she said, smiling. Nora looked at her.

"What?" she asked.

"Let's go swim," Hermione repeated.

"I don't have any swim clothes with me."

"Neither do I, but I have a spell for that." Hermione waved her wand and suddenly they were both standing there in swimsuits. "I'll race you," Hermione said and she ran off towards the water. Nora ran after her, laughing through her tears, and nearly bumped into her best friend, who had suddenly stood still by the edge of the water.

"What?" Nora asked, standing beside Hermione.

"Do you think it's cold?" Hermione asked. Nora rolled her eyes and laughed again. Hermione always had a way of cheering her up in the most desolate times.

"No," she answered and then pushed her friend in the water, jumping in right after. The two girls swum around laughing and splashing water at each other, before Nora got out of the water and started climbing the rocks. Once she stood high above Hermione, she walked over to the edge.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked, looking frightened.

"I'm going to jump in. What does it look like I'm doing?" Nora replied. She jumped in the air, did two back flips before going into a diving position and entering the water. Hermione watched her friend in aw and decided to do the same thing. She ran out of the water and climbed the rocks eagerly. Nora watched and suddenly remembered why she was feeling so hollow inside. She considered drowning herself but it reminded her of the encounter with Draco a long time ago in the bathroom.

---- Flashback ----

She walked over to the large pool-like bathtub and turned on the hot water and a few of the foam tabs, she especially loved the tap whose jet bounced off the surface of the water. When the pool was entirely filled she took off her clothes, got into the pool and swam a couple of laps. After swimming she dove to the bottom of the pool and tried to stay there as long as she could before needing to swim to the surface and breathe again. After about thirty seconds, though, she already had to resurface for air, while wiping her long, straight, and currently wet, brown hair out of her face.

"Trying to drown yourself, Glassyd?" Came Malfoy's drawl, as he looked in the mirror and ran a comb through his gelled-up platinum blonde hair.

"What?" Nora asked looking around confused, "MALFOY! What the hell are you doing in here? Can't you see I'm trying to take a bath!" Her mind raced as she tried to figure out how Malfoy had gotten into the bathroom, since she always looked the door behind her, even if she was at home and the only person in the house… but maybe she had forgotten? "And drowning myself isn't a bad idea now that you're here," she added heatedly looking down to make sure she was covered all the way by bath foam.

"I can't see anything, thank Merlin, if that's what you're checking for," he said, combing his hair again to make sure every single one was in it's right place.

"Oh, shut up and leave so I can get dressed," Nora snapped, hating him more than ever.

"What if I'd rather stay here, and annoy you?"

---- End ----

Nora shook her head, not wanting to think of Draco, and instead focused on Hermione. Her friend jumped into the air, too, but didn't do any back flips. Instead, she landed in the water with an amazingly large splash and came back up laughing.

"That was fun," she said. Nora nodded, to choked up to speak. She could barely smile. "Let's go back to the castle," Hermione said. "I'm hungry," she added. Nora just nodded and the two girls got out of the water. Hermione performed a drying spell and then a spell that switched them back into their jeans and tank tops.

The two walked back out of the forest and into the castle in silence. Both caught up in their thoughts. Hermione was busy with the Amulet and what their first training session would be like tomorrow and Nora was busy cursing everyone and blaming them for nothing. Her hatred was nothing but pure and she definitely didn't like it.

They entered the castle and turned left, not knowing where the kitchen was. Hermione led them through all sorts of halls and corridors until they reached a dead end. In front of them was just a bare wall with only a door. Hermione looked at Nora, who shrugged. She opened the door and walked inside, Nora right behind her. The two girls looked around the empty room. A sudden bang made them both spin around, only to find that the door had swung shut. Hermione walked forward and tried to open it.

"Yup, it's locked," she stated, feeling as if she were in a cheap movie. Nora tried to help Hermione and get the door to open, but nothing worked. They turned around again and noticed that the room was slowly transforming. The two girls walked to the middle and watched silently, wondering what kind of creepy castle this was.

What used to be a bare gray space was now turning into a cozy room with a large red rug in the middle, a fireplace on the right side and a large comfy couch in front of it. In front of them was a large bookcase and to the left was a door.

"What do we do?" Nora asked while looking around the room.

"Well, we can't go back through this door, so I suggest we go see what's behind that one," Hermione replied. Nora gave a nod, walked across the room and opened the door.

"It's a staircase," she said, walking into the other room. Hermione followed and saw that it was in fact a small room with a staircase leading upwards.

"Let's go, then," she said, trembling a little. Nora slowly walked up the stairs, Hermione right behind her. The staircase was made of wood and creaked horribly whenever they took a step. When they were nearly at the top there was an awfully loud creak and Nora could only say: "Uh-oh" before there was an even louder crack and she fell through the moldy, rotten wood. She grabbed hold of whatever she could and held on for dear life. Hermione in the mean time was already panicking and didn't know what to do. She grabbed Nora's hands, which were clinging to the step she was on, and tried to pull her up. She was too weak though. Hermione let go again and tried to think of something else.

"Don't you have a spell for this kind of situation?" Nora yelled. She was hanging in creepy darkness and could only guess this is where the hairy, slimy monsters were. A large, fat spider crawled over her hand and she gave a high-pitched scream causing Hermione to jump up in fright. When she landed, though, it was too much for the stairs to take and it shattered, causing both girls to fall on a cold hard floor with a loud crash, wood splinters landing on top of them.

"Ouch," Hermione groaned. She shoved some wood off of her and then helped Nora. They both stood up and looked around. They seemed to be in some kind of dungeon.

"Just the place I wanted to land in," Nora said sarcastically; things could not get worse. She started walking down the small creepy hall with Hermione right beside her.

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked.

"I have no idea, as long as it's upward and out of this freakish dungeon," Nora replied. Her life had gone from almost perfect to complete catastrophe. She had lost Draco, she was furious with Harry and Ron and she was stuck in this sinister castle that would probably be her death if any more eerie rooms were entered or bone crushing falls were made. Nora stomped her way around the dark gloomy corridors, Hermione trailing behind, carefully watching her step, unlike her best friend who was blinded against the dangers by her hatred. Nora cursed the whole world for making her feel like this and for ruining her life.

"Finally! A staircase!" Hermione shouted and she ran forward and up the steps, Nora right behind her. The staircase circled upwards and when it finally ended the two girls found themselves in the splendid entrance hall.

"Now what?" Nora asked looking around. Her stomach gave a loud rumble.

"Exactly my thoughts," Hermione replied, also taking a good look. "Let's try those two doors, over there," she said pointing to the left.

"You think it might contain the dining room?"

"It better," Hermione said and she walked forward determinedly. She opened the two doors and gave a sigh of relief. "We've found it!" She yelled happily. Nora ran over to investigate and, indeed, there was a large oak dining table with a gold and diamond chandelier hanging above it from an 8-meter high ceiling. There was a large fire roaring in a splendid fireplace to the right of the room and to the left was a large fern, giving the room a pleasantly comfortable look.

"Where's the food?" Nora asked. "Or the kitchen?"

"Erm… I don't know. Maybe it's in another room. There's no door here, so we'll have to check the others in the hall," Hermione replied, exiting the room. Nora followed and they found themselves in the large marble hall once again.

"Which door?" she asked. Hermione looked around.

"Let's try that one. It's closest to the dining room," she replied. Nora opened the door but immediately snapped it shut. She leaned against it, trembling.

"What?" Hermione asked, looking at her friend with worry.

"E-ever w-wonder what happened to F-F-Fluffy?" Nora asked, shaking.

"Erm… yes, actually. But that was a long time ago and it was driven out of my mind by other things. But wha- Ooooooh. In there?" Hermione exclaimed terrified. Nora nodded. "This place just gets creepier and creepier," Hermione whispered. The two girls slumped to the floor, too exhausted and frightened to move. They sat in silence for what seemed like hours until Dumbledore finally entered the hall through some secret passageway in the wall.

"Ah. I see you've had your share of exploring?" He asked happily. Hermione and Nora nodded. "Good. Let's eat, shall we?" The two girls nodded again and got up. They entered the Dining Room behind Dumbledore and took seats beside each other at the large oak dining table. Dumbledore smiled merrily and asked how their day had been.

"Horrible," Hermione replied pretty simply.

"Oh, really? Why?" he asked, still smiling.

"This castle is just too uncanny," she said. "So far the only good thing we've found is that water pool in the forest and this dining room."

"And the weird room that transformed into some kind of living room when you entered," Nora added, playing with her fork.

"Ah yes. That room certainly is a mystery. Sounds like you had fun, then," Dumbledore said merrily.

"No we did not," Nora replied, looking at her headmaster. "We found a sinister room that made you go blind and deaf, we fell through a staircase and landed painfully in some kind of dungeon and we still have not eaten!" she said, her voice rising. Nora quickly regained control. "Sorry," she muttered and looked at her empty plate.

"No need to apologize. I realize that hunger can make us lose control sometimes," Dumbledore replied, smiling at the two girls, but both of them could hear the emphasis put on the word 'hunger'. Just then the two doors opened again and a house elf entered, Harry, Ron and Draco following behind, Quidditch brooms in their hands.

"How nice of you to join us," Dumbledore told them happily. "Please, take a seat." Dumbledore himself was sitting at the end of the table, Hermione on his right. Ron took a seat across from her and on Dumbledore's left. Harry sat next to Ron and across from Nora who was sitting next to Hermione. Draco sat on Harry's other side. "I assume you have had a nice day as well?" Dumbledore asked the three boys. They nodded.

"We played Quidditch the entire day," Ron replied excitedly.

"Good. Good. Now I have just a few more things to say before we eat. First of all, your other group members will be going on with the trip by themselves. I told them the truth and that you five were in need of training in order to defeat Voldemort later on. They took it fairly well. Second of all, training will begin tomorrow at eleven o'clock and I expect you to be in the Entrance Hall at quarter to eleven sharp." His voice was stern, as was his look when he eyed them all. "Now, let us eat," he finished, in a happier tone. Suddenly food appeared on the table, as it always did at Hogwarts.

The food was delicious and they all talked happily during dinner. Except for Nora. She was lost in thought: would it all have ended differently if Dean had not been killed? Would she have been saved from this excruciating pain if he were still alive? '_No._' The annoying voice replied, speaking up once again. '_And why not?_' Nora thought, bitterly, not bothering to ignore it anymore. '_Because Dean said so himself. You and Draco were meant to be together._' The voice replied. '_Yes, in one of my dreams. And if I believed everything I dreamed, then it'd be true when that Unicorn had said I was sea lion._'

"Nora? Are you listening to me at all?" Harry asked. Nora was rudely pulled out of her thoughts and she glared at him in painful hatred.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Were you yelling at me again?" she asked in a cold, bitter and sarcastic voice, for she was still furious with him about the argument they had had concerning her dating Draco. Of course, Harry was probably very delighted, now that they had broken up.

"What? I was just asking for the gravy," he said, a little unsure of what had just happened. Nora gasped.

"Ooh, something different for once," she told him, while picking up the gravy bowl and shoving it in his hands, still using her cold and bitter voice. And she wasn't planning on using anything else. Harry looked at her expressionlessly, still a bit flabbergasted, but then took the gravy bowl and poured some of the liquid on his mashed potatoes. Nora glared at him before continuing to eat. Slowly the talk at the table went up again.

Draco kept glancing at Nora, in the hope of catching her eye at one point, but Nora kept her head down and only stared at her food. He knew that he had hurt her, terribly, and couldn't think of anything that would make her feel better. He knew she'd never have him back and this made the situation even more hopeless. Draco could feel the tension between the both of them and it was nearly killing him.

Nora could also feel it: the tension, the ache, the disgrace. It all added up to her pain and misery. She knew Draco was trying to catch her attention, but she wanted nothing else to do with him... she hated him.

Draco could hardly eat his food, but he forced himself so as not to draw attention. He just wanted to be alone. In his whole life he had never felt this dismal, but his life had made such a drastic turn that he just wanted to be alone and weep. He wanted his mother. Narcissa had always had special gift to make him feel better whenever his father had tortured him, she would probably have been able to make him feel better right now. But he was stuck in an unknown castle with people he hardly knew and had spent hating for most his life. Why couldn't he have lied and said that he didn't mind if Nora joined him in battle against Voldemort. Then she'd still be his. Then he wouldn't have felt the need to cry.

Nora thought back to the days at Hogwarts. She thought about how Draco had suddenly changed and wasn't the mean, snobbish Slytherin. Her mind wondered to the time in potions class when they had to make the truth potions. That was when she had found out that Draco liked her. She cursed that day. She wanted to be ignorant again.

---- Flashback ----

"You will all have finished your potions by now," drawled Snape as he walked along the desks and inspected the cauldrons. "Drink it one at a time and be prepared for your partner to know your darkest secrets. Ask away," he said bored.

"You try first," Malfoy told Nora with a smirk on his face. Nora looked at him in hatred, but drank the potion reluctantly, wondering if he'd poisoned it. A few seconds later she felt herself become calm inside and feel at ease. Malfoy thought hard about the questions he should ask and she watched him anxiously and impatiently, or she would've, if the concoction hadn't made her feel so comfortable and relaxed.

"All right, what's your favorite color?" Malfoy asked.

"Blue."

"Right. Favorite pet?"

"Dog."

"I see, now is either Potty or Weasel your sweet little boyfriend?" He looked at her with interest.

"No." '_That's what he's asking me? Why on earth would he care if I was going out with Harry or Ron?_' Nora wondered vaguely. '_Just as long as he doesn't mention Saturday morning. Please, do _not_ let him mention Saturday morning!_'

"So… did you like it when I touched you?" Malfoy asked her quietly, looking so very smug with himself. '_Oh my god!_' Nora tried her very best not to answer, but as Snape had said before, she soon felt herself becoming worn out by the strength it took. Of course, she didn't want Malfoy, her enemy, to know that deep dark secret, but she was forced to tell the truth.

"No… and Yes." '_Well_,' she sighed inwardly. '_It's half of what I wanted. The bloody git._' Malfoy looked absolutely ecstatic. Then he leaned forward and whispered:

"Do you like me?"

"No." Nora came out of her calm trance and looked at him in fury. How she wished she could pummel him right then and there! '_Urgh. Thank Merlin it's over. And I hope he doesn't mention Saturday ever, ever again! I hate Snape; it's all an evil conspiracy. Though notice that I said 'no' so I don't like him, at least one good thing_,' she thought, feeling relieved. But there was that little annoying voice again that never left her alone: '_Oh no, you _do _like him, only you don't know it yet, so it's not a lie to say "no".' _Her own thoughts were completely confusing her, so she ignored them.

"So, you liked it, huh?" Malfoy said with a smirk. Nora closed her eyes and heaved a deep sigh, trying to calm herself down so she wouldn't feel like attacking him so much.

"Oh, shut up and drink the bloody potion," she said when she'd opened her eyes again. He shrugged and obeyed, gulping the liquid down in one go. A serene look passed over his face, replacing the smirk. Nora sighed again.

"Ok. What's your favorite color?" she asked bored.

"Yellow."

"Oh, very manly," she told him. "Your favorite animal?"

"Wolf." Nora thought that over, being fascinated by wolves herself, and then a thought, a stupid thought, entered her head: '_Ask him! Ask him! Ask him why he did it!_'

"Ok, so, why'd you do… what you did on Saturday?" she asked seriously, very aware that the entire classroom was filled with students who would be able to hear, if, luckily, they weren't so busy with the asking-and-telling themselves.

"I like you."

"What?" she blurted horrified, backing away.

"I like you."

"Oh Merlin's Beard, why?" she thought out loud, not realizing that that counted as a question. This was the evil Slytherin who had tortured her and her friends since their first year! How could this be? How could he like her: the 'stupid mudblood'? She couldn't believe it and looked at him as if he'd sprouted two other heads.

"Because you're very beautiful," he answered. Nora was now staring ahead of her, her head in both hands. When Malfoy came out of his trance he nearly fell out of his chair in shock; he hadn't thought she would've asked questions about it too! And now she knew! Oh this was terrible. Just awful… would people notice if he jabbed himself in the heart with his wand?

---- End ----

When dinner was done Dumbledore spoke again.

"Now, I said training would start tomorrow, but actually your wandering around the castle and grounds was already part of it. It was to see how you would react to a new environment. I do not know this castle as I know Hogwarts, but I think that most of it is safe. Also, I cannot say for sure, but I don't think there are any dangerous monsters hidden here and that most rooms are safe to enter," Dumbledore told the five students.

"Oh, really?" Nora asked, speaking up. "What about Fluffy?"

"Fluffy?" Dumbledore asked bewildered.

"Yes. Fluffy is in the room nearest to this one. I was nearly ripped apart," she said. The three boys looked at her in shock. Hermione nodded. Dumbledore took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose with thumb and finger. After a few second he put his spectacles back on and said:

"True. Fluffy is in this castle to protect the Amulet of Era's from Voldemort. After we found it, though, I thought it would be safer for Hermione to wear it."

"Why?" Hermione asked. This meant that she was in the most danger.

"Because no one, except for us, knows what it looks like and no one will suspect your necklace to be the most powerful gem in the whole world," Dumbledore explained.

"Wait. _My_ necklace?" Hermione questioned.

"Yes. You found it so you may keep it," The headmaster replied, nodding. Hermione smiled a little. She owned the most powerful jewel in the world. "All right. Now the last part of today's training is for you to find your bedrooms. The door to your bedroom will have your name on it. Sleep well." Dumbledore stood up and the rest followed his example. The two doors opened and the five students walked into the hall. Ron and Draco walked up the marble staircase and Nora was about to follow when Harry grabbed her wrist.

"What?" she snapped, spinning around furiously.

"What was that, back in there?" Harry demanded, looking angry. Nora let out a laugh in pity at his stupidity and ignorance.

"You don't know?" she questioned, almost in disbelief, mocking laughter on her face. Harry shook his head. "You haven't figured it out?" Harry shook his head again. "Fine. Let me help you," Nora said in her, usual, cold bitter tone. "Erm… now, let's see… what about our 'little' argument before the first meeting," she told Harry sarcastically, as if explaining something so very simple to a grown-up who had forgotten for the hundredth time.

"What about it?"

"Oh please! You always gripe about everything I do! Nothing's ever good enough for you, is it?" Nora asked him, close to exploding. Hermione backed a way a little. Ron and Draco were nowhere in sight.

"That is not true!" Harry yelled back, offended. "I was only saying that I didn't think it was right for you to be dating Draco! And I was right, wasn't I?" Nora's eyes widened in outrage, for it was really cheap of him to have mentioned that.

"Well, you must be really fucking happy, then!" she yelled, eyes burning with fresh tears. "I'll just leave you alone so you can triumph about it!" Then she stormed up the marble staircase, tears streaming down her face. Hermione gave Harry a glare and then followed her friend. Nora stormed into the first hall she could find and luckily it was the one that held the rooms. She searched for hers and quickly entered it, falling onto her bed and sobbing in the blankets. A minute later Hermione entered and sat beside Nora, putting her arms around the vulnerable girl.

An hour later Hermione covered her best friend with the blankets, turned off the lights and slowly shut the door, for Nora had finally fallen asleep. Hermione searched for her room and found that it was right beside Nora's. She entered it and let herself fall on the covers. It had been such an exhausting day that she just fell asleep right then and there.

* * *

Harry watched Nora storm off up the marble staircase. He saw Hermione give him a glare and then head upstairs, too. He didn't know what he had done wrong; he was just watching over his friend, protecting her. '_She doesn't need protection,_' a little voice in his head said. Harry shook his head. He knew it was true. His friends didn't need protection. He longed for the days when they had been ignorant and had nothing to worry about. Harry slowly made his way up the stairs, too. He wanted to go to bed, when he realized that he had no idea where his bed was. He groaned and decided to just look in every room. Surely he'd find it then.

Harry walked into a gloomy corridor and opened the first door in sight. He peered inside and saw a large table on an elevation at one side of the room. In front of the table were rows of chairs. '_Must be some kind of court room._' He thought and he closed the door again. As he walked on his mind was going through all of the memories he had of Hogwarts, his home. He thought of all of those days when he and his friends would be sitting outside in the sun and talk, or when they would have fun in class. He knew life at Hogwarts would never be the same since the attack.

Another door came into sight and Harry slowly opened it. He peered inside and out of nowhere a whole swarm of bees came. It made it's way to Harry, who quickly slammed the door shut. '_All right, let's try a different corridor,_' he thought as he ran back to the marble staircase.

It seemed to take forever until he finally reached a decent looking hall. To his relief the first door contained Ron's name. Across from it was a door that had his name on it. He quickly went inside and lay down on his bed. Harry gave a sigh of relief and then dozed off, hoping that one day he, Ron, Hermione and Nora would be that same group of friends they had been.

* * *

_A/N_: All right I hope you liked this chapter, once again; sorry it took so long to write. R&R, please. 


	27. The First Part of Training

_A/N_: Sorry it took quite a while to update this chapter, but at least it's long. The song in the beginning is: Foo Fighters – Best of You.

**Chapter 27: The First Part of Training**

Draco woke up next morning due to the sun shining in his eyes; he had forgotten to close the curtains last night. He groaned and rolled over on his side. He didn't want to get up. All he wanted to do was stay in bed and do nothing.

_I've got another confession to make_

_I'm your fool_

_Everyone's got their chains to break_

_Holdin' you_

Draco rolled over on his other side and gave another groan. Flashes of the fight he had had with Nora entered his mind and he just couldn't keep them away. It was like watching some stupid movie and not being able to switch the channel.

_Were you born to resist or be abused?_

_Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?_

_Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?_

Draco remembered the days in Hogwarts when things had been just perfect. When they had been friends.

---- Flashback ----

The next day it was finally weekend and Draco was walking around the Hogwarts grounds, alone. He couldn't hang out with Crabbe and Goyle because they were pigging out in the kitchens once again and since he had already had lunch an hour ago, he wasn't really that hungry. Pansy and Millicent were out of the question too, because, even though they were somewhat bearable at times, they were talking about girl stuff and didn't want him there, not that he even wanted to be there to hear them gossiping about boys. So now he was walking all alone in the snow, the snow crunching beneath his feet with every step he took. Suddenly he heard people laughing and shouting. He looked up and a bit ahead to the right were Harry, Hermione, Nora, Ron, Ginny, Seamus and Dean having a major snowball fight. For a minute Draco thought about joining, but then, looking at Potter and Weasley he decided it was better not to. Besides, he wanted nothing to do with them, especially not with… her. He began walking again, when all of a sudden he received a snowball square in the face.

"Hey! What the -?" He shouted angrily wiping the snow off his face, but when he saw Nora walking over to him his expression softened and his heart melted, no matter how hard he tried to scowl at her and act indifferent while ignoring the stinging pain on his face.

"Hi!" She said breathlessly. Her cheeks were rosy colored and her hair was tangled with snow. "You wanna join us?"

"Uhm… No, I don't think I should," he answered her, trying hard not to care and eyeing the four boys who were looking over at him, expressionlessly.

"Oh, come on, they won't mind," she said following his gaze, "Hermione and Ginny want you to join too, and the others, well, I don't really care what they think." Draco hesitated, but before he could say anything Nora had grabbed wrist and dragged him over to the others. As soon as they reached them the boys began pelting him with snowballs. The three girls took this as a challenge and made it guys vs. girls, with Draco on the female half.

They had a wonderful day, just throwing snowballs at each other. After a while they had grown tired though and as it wasn't time for dinner yet, they sat down on a blanket, which Hermione had brought along, and talked. Draco was actually quite enjoying himself and Nora thanked Merlin that the other boys noticed that he was actually quite nice, though to them he would always remain a Slytherin. Draco knew this and deep inside he felt very void.

---- End ----

_Are you gone and onto someone new?_

_I needed somewhere to hang my head_

_Without your noose_

_You gave me something that I didn't have_

_But had no use_

_I was too weak to give in_

_Too strong to lose_

_My heart is under arrest again_

_But I break loose_

_My head is giving me life or death_

_But I can't choose_

_I swear I'll never give in_

_I refuse_

Draco rolled over on his other side again, trying to get the memory of the snowball fight out of his head. He began to feel the hollowness that he had experienced during that day again. Draco realized that, because of his father, he would never have real friends, like Harry, Nora, Hermione and Ron were. Nora. Tears rolled down his cheeks but he didn't bother to wipe them away; more would come anyway.

_Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?_

_Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?_

_Has someone taken your faith?_

_Its real, the pain you feel_

_Your trust, you must_

_Confess_

_Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?_

Draco buried his face in his pillow so that if someone entered his room they wouldn't be able to see he was crying. He wanted Nora back so badly that he felt sick. He couldn't stand the thought of never being able to touch her again. To hold her close to him like he had in Australia.

---- Flashback ----

"We could try walking and if it really doesn't work than we'll ask one of the teachers to heal her," Justin told the group. They nodded and Nora was left no choice but to try and walk. Five minutes later, though, she was already a few meters behind the other three and had to limp. Nora gave out a long sigh in frustration. This was all not going as planned.

"Love the way you walk, Quasimodo," came the voice of Draco beside her. She looked at him and glared.

"You try it with a crippled foot, you git," she replied coldly. Draco laughed and then held his hands up in the air and said:

"I come in peace. Want me to help you?"

"How? You can't use magic to levitate me, Muggles would see."

"What Muggles? There isn't a Muggle around for miles. Besides, I could carry you." Nora was startled by his offer, she didn't know if he was asking that to really help her or just because he liked her, and she wanted to decline the offer, but on the other hand, a little voice in her head kept shouting: '_YES! PLEASE! TAKE ME IN YOUR STRONG ARMS!_' She hated that little voice. Draco watched her think it over and his heart sank a little when she replied.

"No, that's quite all right. I don't want to wear you out," she told him, smiling awkwardly.

"You won't," Draco said, and before she could do anything he swept her off the ground and in his arms and started walking. She tried to protest but felt too exhausted to even try, and after a while she, absentmindedly, put her head on Draco's shoulder and her arms around his neck. Draco smelled the refreshing scent of fruit that emerged from her hair.

Nora was vaguely wondering what on earth she was doing in Draco's arms. She felt like she was betraying Dean. '_Don't be silly,_' the annoying little voice in her head said, speaking up once more. '_Dean is gone and he even said that you and Draco were meant to be together._' '_Quiet,_' Nora snapped at it. She closed her eyes and felt the hot sun on her face, along with the throbbing pain from her ankle. Very slowly she dozed off.

Draco looked at her beautiful face, her closed eyelids, her soft lips. How he longed to touch them, to kiss them. But he had to control himself and concentrate on getting her back to the hotel safely. Draco pulled her a bit closer to him as he gave her a gentle hug.

---- End ----

_Has someone taken your faith?_

_Its real, the pain you feel_

_The life, the love_

_You die to heal_

_The hope that starts_

_The broken hearts_

_Your trust, you must_

_Confess_

Draco rolled over on his back, gave a frustrated, strangled shout, grabbed his pillow and chucked it through one of the open windows. A few seconds later he heard it reach the ground with an unsatisfying soft plop. How could his life go from almost completely perfect to total catastrophe in one second? He longed to see Nora, he needed to talk to her, explain it to her but he knew she'd never stay and hear him out until most was blown over and that would take ages. Yet, he'd wait. He'd spend his whole life waiting until she gave him a chance to explain, even if it was at his deathbed.

_Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?_

_Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?_

I've got another confession my friend 

_I'm no fool_

_I'm getting tired of starting again_

_Somewhere new_

Draco slowly got out of bed. He heard two high-pitched screams but didn't rush out of his room to see what was wrong. He paced around his room, needing to find a way to explain to Nora, to tell her about his nightmare.

Were you born to resist or be abused? 

_I swear I'll never give in_

_I refuse_

_Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?_

_Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?_

_Has someone taken your faith?_

_Its real, the pain you feel_

_Your trust, you must_

_Confess_

_Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?_

* * *

Hermione looked around at her surroundings. It was almost completely dark and there were eerie hedges towering above her. It looked like some kind of maze. She started to run and find the exit but no matter which way she ran nothing indicated that she was nearing the end. Hermione could hear a cold cruel laugh from above as she ran down the small paths. Looking up through the dark grey clouds and the thunderous sky she saw the white face and red eyes of Lord Voldemort, his features showing signs of pure glee. Hermione sped up and turned corner after corner, running deeper into the maze, hearing Voldemort's high-pitched laugh above her all the time. In some very mysterious way… this all seemed familiar to her.

"Run, little mudblood, run. For it is all you have in your power to escape the darkness that hides in this fascinating maze," he said, laughing at her. A shot of panic ran through Hermione and she started running even faster, concentrating hard on finding the exit.

"Oh no, my sweet little child, there is no exit, you are doomed to be torn apart by the beast of all darkness that is following your repulsive Muggle scent." Hermione's heart sank. There would be no way to get out of here; she'd be doomed to die a painful death.

"That is right." Voldemort laughed again, watching her run through the maze. Hermione couldn't help but think how this was all so familiar. It began to rain heavily and within minutes she was completely soaked. Apparently Voldemort alone could see where the beast was and it's location was not pleasing him much. "You seem to be going in the very opposite direction the beast goes," he said angrily. '_Thank God._' Hermione thought, but something else entered her head. '_What if it's trick? What if he wants you to keep running that way?_' She started panicking again and decided to turn right at the next chance she got. It took quite a while for a right turn to come up, but when it did she turned the corner as fast as she could. '_What if _that_ was his plan?_' A thought told her. Hermione didn't know what to do; she was frustrated and panicking like she'd never panicked before. She lost her grip on things and slipped in the mud, falling flat on her face.

"Very good," Voldemort said gleefully, laughing loudly. Hermione quickly got up and started running again, though she saw no point. She knew no one would be able to save her and the beast would catch up sooner or later. She might as well stop running right now and let the animal come and devour her, but she still kept her fast pace, hoping that she'd be able to escape someway or the other. Hermione looked up, but Voldemort's large face was still floating above her, laughing ever so horribly. She kept recognizing the scenes from somewhere, but she didn't know from where.

Hermione turned another corner in the endless maze of doom. A fork of lightning flashed across the sky, lighting the maze for a split second. And in that small second of light Hermione saw dark looming shadows and one shadow that caught her attention. It had been another human. Another girl. Hermione kept running, hoping to find her, the cold hard rain splashing against her body. She was judging by Voldemort's happy laughter and shouts of joy that her doom was nearing her every second. Just then she ran straight into someone and fell in the mud. Hermione quickly got up, wanting to see who the other girl was that was trapped in this awful maze.

"N-Nora?" she asked, almost in disbelief. The other girl looked up, fear written all over her face.

"H-Hermione? Oh my god! I-I'm so scared!" Nora said, standing up, too.

"Me too! And there's no way out of here!" Hermione shouted, feeling very nauseous.

"I know," Nora said softly. Somewhere to the left loud growls were emerging and the two girls looked at each other, eyes wide, tears running down their cheeks.

"Come on," Hermione said softly and she began running again, Nora right behind her. The two girls ran through the small paths, turning corners every now and then, at lightning speed, but still the growls were getting closer. There was a sudden fork of lightning right beside them and out of shock the two fell painfully on their backs, their whole bodies splattered with mud and what looked like…

"Blood?" Hermione said quietly looking at her arms and stomach. Nora had noticed, too. Their t-shirts were covered with dark red bloodstains, as were their arms. A loud rumbling growl made them look up and they stared into the eyes of evil.

There, staring at them, stood two gigantic leopards and instantly the two girls knew what the beasts were. They had learned the whole book of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' by heart and knew that the animals in front of them were Nundus, the most dangerous beasts in the world. The Nundu was a gigantic African leopard that moved silently, despite its size, and who's breath could cause disease virulent enough to eliminate entire villages. Fewer than a hundred skilled wizards working together had never yet subdued it. Hermione and Nora knew their lives were at an end; they would never be able to fight this beast with their bad wounds and no wand. Another fork of lightning flashed as Hermione and Nora looked into separate pairs of eyes of the Nundus.

"Attack!" Voldemort yelled and no second later the Nundus jumped, mouths open wide and large pointy teeth glistening as the rain poured down on them as hard as ever. Hermione and Nora each let out a deafening cry as the Nundu's teeth sank painfully into their skin of their throats.

* * *

Someone was shaking Hermione around and she snapped her eyes open, sweat all over her body. She looked around her surroundings and to her relief she was in her bedroom. Hermione turned her attention to the person that had shaken her awake and found herself gazing in the caring and scared eyes of Harry.

"Thank god you're awake," he said, giving a weak smile. "Ron's checking on Nora. We both thought you two were being murdered in your beds with all that screaming."

"I-I had a nightmare," Hermione whispered, still in unbelievable shock.

"I thought so," Harry replied, pulling Hermione into a hug.

"Wait. Why is Ron checking on Nora?" She asked.

"You two woke up screaming at the same time so Ron and I split up," he replied.

"Oh... Nora was in my nightmare… is it possible we both dreamt the same thing?"

"Not sure. Could be, but I doubt it. We'll have to ask her what her nightmare was about first, before we jump to conclusions," Harry said. He let go of Hermione and got up. "If you get dressed we'll ask her on the way to breakfast. Training starts in about half an hour." Harry walked out of the room, leaving Hermione behind to change. He and Ron were already dressed and had been on the way to breakfast when the two girls woke up.

Ten minutes later Hermione walked out of her room fully dressed and nervously wringing her hands. She quickly walked over to Harry, still frightened over the dream.

"Do we ask her now or at breakfast?" she questioned.

"I was thinking now, because at breakfast the others will be there, too," Harry replied.

"Where is she?"

"Ron's still comforting her."

"But Ron's not very good at that… It'll take all day for him to make her feel better," Hermione said, folding her arms.

"I'll bet he's doing a fine job, besides, it's better that we stay outside and wait. Too many people will just frustrate her," Harry told her. Hermione shrugged and leaned against the wall beside Harry. She observed him as he gazed anxiously at Nora's door. It had been a long time since Hermione had been alone with him and she realized how much she had missed her friends during the trip. Out of the blue Hermione turned to Harry and gave him a friendly hug, nearly crushing his ribs. When she let go of him again Harry's eyebrows nearly disappeared under his untidy hair in confusion.

"What was that for?" He asked. Hermione blushed a little.

"I missed you," she replied. Harry gave a smile and shook his head a little.

"I thought you were trying to kill me," he said. Hermione chuckled, still blushing. "Which reminds me…" Harry went on. Hermione looked at him and could see he was thinking hard. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For being such a prat yesterday," he answered, looking at the ugly dark red carpeting on the floor. He was vaguely wondering if the color was dried up blood when Hermione spoke again.

"It's all right. I kind of understand. Besides, it's not like you and Ron haven't acted that way before. It's really sweet, actually, but you've got to learn to control your over protectiveness at times," she said. Harry looked at her and gave a small smile. Just then the door across from them opened and Ron walked out, quietly closing it behind him. He turned around and gave a small jerk with his head out of shock.

"You're not scared of us, are you?" Harry asked. Ron scowled at him.

"No, I just didn't think you were standing there, waiting," he replied.

"Isn't Nora coming?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"She is, she's just getting dressed," Ron answered.

"Oh, right," Hermione said, feeling a little flustered. Another door opened and out walked Draco, his hair messy and an expression on his face that they had never seen on him before. Draco said nothing; he just turned and walked towards the large staircase, on his way to breakfast. The three friends stood in the hall in awkward silence. Harry and Ron felt a little guilty. Hermione felt sorry for Nora and Draco. The door across them opened again and out walked Nora in shorts and a t-shirt looking dreadful. Her hair was a complete disaster, her whole face was tearstained, her eyes weren't shining like they always did and her expression was full of anguish and misery. Hermione even had to blink before she could verify that it really was her best friend. But after that she immediately walked forward and pulled her into a friendly and soothing hug. Nora gave a sob in response.

"Need some help with your hair?" Hermione asked softly. Nora nodded and gave another sob. If she wasn't in any state to control her hair, then how was she supposed to keep on living? She gave another few sobs, not caring about Harry and Ron seeing. She was still mad at them for their over protectiveness and thought it wouldn't hurt for them to see what they'd done to her. She knew it wasn't entirely their fault, though… oh all right, it wasn't their fault at all but she needed to blame this massive disaster on _someone_, besides herself. Hermione muttered a spell and Nora's hair started to untangle itself and fall neatly down her back.

"I heard you had a nightmare," Hermione said calmly, still hugging Nora, who gave another sob.

"I did," she replied, sniffing a couple of times, as her nose was completely clogged.

"I did, too."

"Really?" Nora sniffed again.

"Yes. What was your nightmare about?" Hermione questioned casually. Harry and Ron just watched, not daring to disturb the two.

"It was the same one as I had in Australia, with the Nundu, but this time you were in it," Nora gave some more sniffs and a few sobs, while pointing childishly at Hermione.

"Really?" Hermione asked, wondering what this meant.

"Uh-huh."

"I had the same nightmare. You were in mine."

"Really? What does that mean?"

"I don't know, but I think we ought to tell Dumbledore," Hermione said. Nora gave a nod and another sniffle. "Let's have some breakfast, shall we?" Hermione announced, speaking up a bit so that she was sure Harry and Ron could hear, too. Nora nodded and they were about to walk towards the stairs when she held Hermione back. Harry and Ron stopped, too, wondering what was wrong.

"I can't go like this," Nora exclaimed desperately. Even though she was wretched, it didn't mean she wanted others to see.

"I'll fix it," Hermione muttered another spell and Nora's face cleared up, the tearstains vanishing from sight.

"Thanks," Nora whispered. She gave one more sniffle, rubbed her face with her hands and then the four headed down for breakfast.

"We both had the same nightmare," Hermione announced to Harry and Ron when they started descending the grand staircase.

"Really? The exact same nightmare?" Ron asked her. She nodded.

"Yes. The exact same nightmare, and Nora's had it before, too."

"What? When?" Harry asked shocked.

"In Australia, but that was a while ago, somewhere in January," Nora replied, her voice rough. She cleared her throat and went on. "It was the exact same nightmare, except this time Hermione was in it, too. First it was just me all alone."

"Wonder what this means," Ron thought out loud as they entered the entrance hall.

"Dunno," Harry replied. "But we've got to tell Dumbledore about this; maybe he can figure it out," He was actually asking a bit, needing to see if Nora and Hermione would allow him to bring it up during breakfast. To his relief the two girls nodded and they entered the dining room. Dumbledore and Draco were already seated, sitting in the same chairs as last evening.

"Good Morning," Dumbledore said happily. "I see you've made it here all right. Have a seat." The four students sat in the same seats as last evening, too. Like all the other times, Draco tried to catch Nora's attention, but she just ignored him, hating his guts. Their headmaster smiled at them all, eyes twinkling as usual. "I hope you've all had a good night's rest," he said, as food appeared on the table. Dumbledore piled his plate full, as did the others, waiting for a reply. "Well?" Harry, Nora, Hermione and Ron glanced at each other.

"Well, you see, sir, Ron and I did, but they had a bit of a troubled sleep," Harry replied, gesturing at Nora and Hermione, not knowing how to formulate this.

"How come?" Dumbledore asked, watching the two girls. Draco was listening intently, hoping Nora was all right.

"Well, it seems there's this nightmare that has come up before," Harry went on.

"What kind of nightmare?" Dumbledore questioned, his face serious. Hermione decided to answer.

"Well, we were both running through a dark gloomy maze, Voldemort in the sky, laughing, saying there's a beast in the maze with us that'll be our doom. We try to run and find the exit, but there isn't any. So we just run around, delaying our death, and then we bump into each other and try to escape the beast together but we fall and get devoured by two Nundus," she explained rapidly. Dumbledore was in deep thought and Harry, Ron and Draco watched the two girls with shock, horrified about the nightmare.

"No wonder they screamed so loud." Ron muttered to Harry, who nodded in reply, unable to speak; they hadn't heard the whole story of the nightmare before. To them it was a big shock that nightmares could be so horrifying, though Harry had had his share of them. Draco watched Nora intently. He could remember when she had had that nightmare the first time. He and Justin had been talking…

---- Flashback ----

Draco walked out of his room, hair ruffled, his head in completely disarray. His mind just wouldn't stop flashing those images of him and Nora kissing. He walked into the bathroom, splashed some could water on his face and hoped all his troubles would just go away, but alas, no such luck. Draco groaned and then went back into his room to change, thinking '_This sucks._'

When he walked back into the living room Justin was sitting on the sofa with a bowl of cereal. Draco sat down next to him, more images of him and Nora running through his mind.

"Hey," Justin said with his mouthful. "Want some?" He asked, pushing his cereal bowl under Draco's nose. Draco shook his head.

"No thanks," he replied.

"You sure? It's very good," Justin told him, taking another bite of the cereal. Draco shook his head again.

"I'm fine," he said. Justin eyed him for a few seconds but then went on eating. Draco sighed. Justin ignored it. Draco sighed again. Still Justin went on with his breakfast. Draco sighed a third time.

"All right, what's wrong?" Justin asked, putting his cereal down. Draco looked at him with a look on his face that said: what-are-you-talking-about? "Oh please, the sighing, the confused looks. It doesn't take a genius to notice you're stuck on something."

"Fine," Draco said. He was about to go on when Padma exited her bedroom.

"Hey guys," she said cheerfully.

"Hey," Justin and Draco replied. The three spent the next few minutes in silence until Padma spoke again.

"What's wrong?" She asked, suspicious of the awkward stillness.

"Nothing. Guy stuff," Justin replied simply, shrugging.

"Oh. All right then," Padma said and she walked into the bathroom to take a shower.

"So, what's wrong?" Justin asked again. Draco gave another sigh.

"I kissed her," he said quietly. Justin's eyes widened.

"HER?" He asked, pointing to the bathroom where water was now running.

"No! Not her! Her!" Draco replied, pointing to the girls' bedroom where the door was open.

"Ooooh." Justin calmed down a bit. "Oh. Why?"

"Because I love her."

"Then what's the problem?"

"She doesn't love me! I mean, things were fine when we were just friends, but my heart wants more. I don't know what to do," Draco said, putting his head in his hands. Justin put a hand on his shoulder.

"Do you really want more?" He asked. Draco nodded.

"Yes."

"Just tell her, then." Draco hesitated.

"I-I can't. I really want to, but I can't," he replied, a lump in his throat.

"Why not?" Justin asked. Draco looked at him as if he was insane.

"Oh please. You know what I've done to her the last few years, to you too," he answered. Padma exited the bathroom and walked into her bedroom.

"Just tell Nora you love her, I know she'd at least consider what you said, Draco," Justin told him. Just then a high-pitched scream rang loud and clear through the room. The two boys jumped up and ran into the girls' bedroom where Padma was sitting beside Nora's bed, hugging the trembling girl. Draco put a hand over his chest, hoping she was all right.

---- End ----

Draco would never forget the way he had felt back then. All those horrible thoughts that had entered his mind of what had happened. Hoping she'd be ok.

"Well, we should certainly look that up," Dumbledore said as he got up. "Now that breakfast is over, I'll lead you to the training room." He walked out of the dining room and the five students followed in silence. The old man led them through millions of corridors and up and down tons of staircases. Even though they took a few shortcuts it still took a long time before they finally reached a wall that held a large door with the Hogwarts crest. Dumbledore opened the door and walked inside, the students following him.

They found themselves in a gigantic room with a large red rug in the middle. The floor was made out of wood and the walls were just gray bricks. One side of the walls contained a few windows; the rest had torches on them.

"This is where we will train everyday. Our first session will be simple. Each one of you will get acquainted with the Amulet; for during battle it only helps people it has acquainted with before. Each one of you will touch the Amulet, while Hermione is still wearing it, and when the process is completed your color will light up the room. I do not know if there will be any side effects or if this procedure affects the carrier. We'll see. Any questions?" Dumbledore asked. Hermione raised her hand. "Yes, Hermione?"

"What did you mean when you said: 'When the process is completed your color will light up the room'?" She asked.

"Very good question. Everyone has their own personal color and it lights up when something very powerful happens to you," Dumbledore explained. "Any other questions? Hermione?"

"Yes. What did you mean when you said: 'I do not know if this procedure effects the carrier'? Who's the carrier?" Hermione asked.

"You are."

"Oh. Right."

"No more questions? Good. Harry, you will be the first to try this out. All you do is walk over to Hermione and hold the Amulet in your hands." Harry gulped before walking forward. He stood in front of Hermione and slowly grabbed the Amulet with his right hand. He was afraid some pain might be involved, but instead a warm comforting feeling spread through his veins. After nearly five minutes of the soothing feeling the room was filled with a bright red light, coming from Harry.

"Ah. Red," Dumbledore whispered. "The color of Gryffindor." Everyone watched Harry with astonishment and they looked as if expecting him to turn into Godric Gryffindor at any second. Harry let go of the Amulet and stepped aside. The wonderful red light vanished.

Hermione's heart was beating fast as Harry walked forward to take the Amulet in his hands. She was truly hoping this wouldn't hurt. Harry took the Amulet in his hands and at first Hermione felt nothing. '_Good._' She thought, but then… she began to feel something… a feeling though she couldn't quiet place… it didn't belong in her. Soon another emotion entered her and it didn't belong in her, either. In three minutes Hermione had it all figured out: these were Harry's feelings. While he was getting acquainted his feelings and thoughts were being put into her. It was quite bizarre. A red light flashed and Hermione could hear Dumbledore mutter: "Ah. Red. The color of Gryffindor." Everyone stared at Harry, flabbergasted, but she had known all along.

"Ron, you're turn." Ron took a deep breath and then took his place in front of Hermione. She gave an encouraging smile and he took hold of the Amulet. He, too, could feel the calming warmth flow through him. fifteen minutes later an orange light was coming from Ron. No one found this too astonishing.

"Orange. Who couldn't have guessed?" Dumbledore said, chuckling. "Draco, your turn." Ron stood beside Harry while Draco took his place in front of Hermione. He held the Amulet in his right hand and felt the warm soothing feeling. About half an hour later Draco's color turned the room into green.

"Ah. Green," Dumbledore whispered. "The color of Slytherin." Nora looked up and saw that there was indeed a green light coming from him. This meant that Draco was a descendant of Slytherin and it made her even more determined to keep him out of her life. Slytherin's were never nice. He had probably been faking his niceness all along. She was just another victim in his scheme. "Nora. You may go." Nora walked to Hermione, who gave her a reassuring smile. Nora, too, felt the calm comforting feeling rush through her and fifteen minutes later the room was filled with a beautiful cerulean light.

Every time when one of her friends took her Amulet in their hands Hermione could feel their thoughts and emotions being transferred into herself. She knew all of their deepest thoughts and most sincere feelings. With Harry, for example, she felt his need to prove himself to the world, to show everyone his courage. With Ron she felt his need to become someone great so that he could be special like his brothers. She knew about Draco's need to show the world his good side and she could feel his undying love and devotion for Nora burst through her veins. She also knew about Nora's love and returned affection for Draco, along with pure hatred, and sorrow for Dean's death. Dumbledore's voice snapped her back to reality.

"Now that we have all been acquainted… yes, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Doesn't Hermione have to 'acquaint' with it, too?" Harry asked.

"No, Hermione has probably gone through the process when she first touched the Amulet, isn't that right?" Dumbledore asked Hermione. She nodded.

"Yes."

"Really? When?" Ron asked.

"That was in the changing room, when I tried on my Halloween costume. I was all dressed up and picked up the Amulet to try it on. It had been in my hand for about one second when I felt completely warm and calm. I just stood there; loving the feeling it gave me. Then about five minutes later I lit up and my changing room was filled with a beautiful violet light. I just thought it was some special effect," Hermione told them, shrugging.

"Fascinating," Dumbledore said, though the others couldn't really think of something interesting about that; it had just happened to them. "All right. Now the next part of today's training is to explore the castle again, but stay together. It will teach you how to cooperate in a group. Off you go," he finished. The five students walked out of the room and stood still, looking every which way, wondering where to go.

"Where to?" Ron asked. The others shrugged.

"Straight ahead?" Harry offered.

"All right," Ron replied shrugging and the two started walking into the corridor in front of them. Nora, Hermione and Draco followed in silence.

"Did you ever know Nora had had that nightmare before?" Ron whispered to Harry as they turned a corner. Harry shook his head.

"Nope," He answered. "Never had a clue. You?"

"Me neither. Let's try that door," Ron said excitedly , pointing to a large oak door in front of them.

"All right," Harry replied. Ron slowly opened the door and walked inside. Harry followed. The two walked around and turned their heads every which way to look around.

"It seems to be some kind of torture room," Ron whispered, gazing at a bloody guillotine. Harry nodded, keeping his eye on a skeleton chained to the wall.

"Let's get out of here, before some creep comes in and uses some of those devices on us," he whispered back. Ron nodded and they quickly ran out of the room and back into the corridor where Nora, Hermione and Draco where waiting for them in silence.

"Well?" Hermione asked.

"Torture room," Ron replied.

"Let's go," Hermione said at once, and she hastily walked off into another corridor. This one seemed a bit larger than the one before so they were probably on the right track.

"Left?" Ron asked, peering into a corridor. Harry peeked in, too.

"Definitely not. There's hardly any light," he replied. The five kept peeking into every corridor or hall they saw, hoping to find a way to the more secure part of the castle.

"Look, stairs," Nora said after a while of wandering around, pointing ahead. Harry squinted.

"Yes. At last," he muttered.

"Finally, a way out of this dark level," said Ron. Hermione nodded. When they reached the stairs, though, their hopes sank. They had expected a staircase that went downwards, not only upwards. Past the stairs was some sort of balcony with a large, flat, wooden bridge leading from it that went across a large area of blackness.

"Where does it lead?" Hermione asked softly.

"I don't know. Maybe to another part of the castle?" Harry replied hopefully.

"How far up are we anyway?" Ron wondered while leaning over the edge of the balcony they were standing on.

"I don't know. I thought we were on the second floor or something, but this seems to be about a million stories high," Harry told him.

"Should we risk it?" Hermione asked, looking at the others.

"We don't really have a choice, do we?" Harry responded.

"I suppose not," Hermione said. She looked over the edge, not being able to see anything beside darkness. "Is it safe?"

"Of course not," Ron replied stupidly. "That wood's probably all rotten and moldy, just waiting to brake as soon as someone steps on it." Harry smacked him hard on the arm.

"Shut up. You're scaring her," He whispered angrily.

"Oh. Right," Ron whispered back. He went on in a loud, fake, confident voice. "Of course it's safe, Hermione. That staircase has probably just been made out of really sturdy wood and could carry an elephant." Harry covered his face with his hand and shook his head. How Ron had gotten seven OWL's was beyond him.

"Who goes first?" Harry asked. Nora and Hermione took a step back and Ron stared at his shoes, holding his breath.

"I'll go," Draco said and he walked forward without hesitating. He carefully put one foot on the moldy wood, testing to see if it was sturdy. Then he put his other foot on the wood, too. Draco jumped a little and when nothing happened he slowly headed forwards over the blackness. Harry took a deep breath and then got on the flat bridge, too. He took a few steps as Draco walked further.

Ron was about to get on the wood, too, when an awful stench reached his nose. He turned around and saw Hermione and Nora do the same thing. Standing in the doorway was a troll, looking stupidly around him. The two girls let out a high-pitched scream and Ron gave a yell. Suddenly they were all very eager to get on the weak bridge and Ron quickly walked across it, Hermione and Nora right behind him. When they reached Harry, he turned around, a bit confused.

"What are you doing here? I don't think this wood's sturdy enough to hold all of us at one time," he told his friends. They started talking all at once, pointing to where the troll had been. Draco walked back over, looking irritated.

"We'd better get a move on or this thing will snap," he said.

"They say there was a troll behind them," Harry told him.

"A troll? Where?" Asked Draco seriously. Hermione, Ron and Nora pointed to the end of bridge. Harry and Draco squinted their eyes to get a better look.

"I think I see it," said Harry. "We've really walked a long way, haven't we? I can hardly see the side of the castle we came from."

"Yeah, me neither. Though I can't see the other side either," Ron announced. The others looked to the other side.

"Come to think of it, neither can I," Hermione said quietly, panic in her voice.

"Me neither," muttered Nora.

"Me neither," said Harry and Draco. All of a sudden the bridge shook immensely. Only once. They were all shaken around and then it stopped as suddenly as it had come. The five students looked at each other in worry.

"Earthquake?" Ron asked in a rather hopeful whisper. Hermione whimpered and shook her head, her eyes wide with fright.

"That was no earthquake," she whispered back. "That was a…" A loud rumble and another massive shake interrupted her.

"Troll?" suggested Nora, terror apparent in her voice. Hermione slowly nodded.

"Definitely," she replied. Another rumble erupted and the bridge shook again.

"He's on this bridge, isn't he?" asked Draco. Hermione nodded again, letting out another whimper.

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Harry inquired. "RUN!" He yelled. No one needed him to tell them twice. Everyone began running for the other side of the castle that was still out of their sight. Harry, who was in front, stopped at a sudden creaking sound. The others ran into him.

"Why'd you stop?" Came Ron's muffled yell from underneath his friends, who were all lying on top of him, except Harry, who put his finger to his lip.

"Shhh. Listen," he whispered. After about a minute of listening Ron spoke up again.

"Listen to what? I can't hear a bloody thing," he muttered, irritated that no one had gotten off him yet. Harry just put his finger to his lips. Another awful creaking sound came.

"That," he said.

"So?" Ron asked, pushing his friends off him. Another crack was heard.

"Ron," Harry said seriously, "this bridge is falling apart, and who knows what's beneath all that darkness there." He looked down. Ron gulped.

"Oh." Harry nodded.

"What do we do now?" questioned Hermione.

"I suggest we all grab a good hold of this bridge until we find some other plan," Harry replied.

"Why grab hold of the bridge?" asked Ron.

"Well, I've noticed that every few meters this bridge has some invisible cables holding it up. What I'm hoping is that, if this bridge has to break at all, it breaks in half at the point we're standing. If you hold on to it, then you're safe from falling into that darkness because those invisible strings will still be holding it up. But I'm afraid the bridge is just going to break into a million pieces and that we won't have a chance," Harry explained, worry in his eyes and voice.

"I see," Ron said, though the others knew he hadn't understood a single word. More cracking and creaking sounds erupted.

"Look, just grab on to the wood," Harry told them. The others obeyed at once and sat down on the bridge and grabbed hold of something sturdy. They sat in fear; all hoping Dumbledore would come and save them. Not a minute later after sitting down the bridge gave an awful groan and they heard a snap. Before they could even realize what was coming the students felt themselves fall downwards. The five gripped their piece of wood tighter and felt a jerk as they were stopped from falling into the darkness by the bridge.

"IS EVERYONE ALL RIGHT?" Harry yelled.

"Yes!" Came everyone's reply.

"Ok, good!" He shouted back, glad his plan had worked. He looked around and saw that Ron was on his half of the broken bridge and that Nora, Hermione and Draco were on the other side. Harry wished he had his broom with him or that he wasn't here at all, that he was on the Quidditch pitch. He knew Ron was wishing he were in the kitchens eating, rather than hanging on to a little piece of crappy wood that would probably break at any second. Hermione wished she were in a library where she was safe from all these dangers and it was obvious that Nora and Draco wished they had never left there beds and wanted to be left alone for longer than just a few seconds.

Tears ran down Nora's cheeks. Life seemed hopeless. Just than she heard a small 'snap' and saw the silver necklace Dean had given her for Christmas slide off her neck and fall into the darkness. She made a lunge to grab it, but to no avail. More tears poured from her eyes as her mind screamed '_DEAN!_'. She felt like she was losing him all over again. That necklace had been the one thing she had left of him and she loved it with all her heart. Nora had never taken the necklace with the gold heart and little diamond in the middle off, ever. She wore it when she slept, when she showered, all the time. As she watched the necklace fall into the darkness she could clearly read the words engraved on the back of the small golden heart: I (heart) You.

Hermione, who was hanging just above Nora, had seen it all happen and she felt awful for her friend. As she tried to get a better grip on the wood her sweaty hands slipped and she felt herself fall again. She gave a shriek.

"HERMIONE!" Nora yelled as she saw her best friend fall past her. Harry, Ron and Draco looked up to see Hermione fall. With his quick reactions learned from being Seeker, Draco reached out and grabbed Hermione's wrist but she was to heavy for him to hold with one hand and he was torn away from the bridge. Nora was about to scream out: "DRACO!" but she stopped herself and could only watch as two of the most important people in her life fell into the same darkness as her most loved possession had.

"NORA?" Harry shouted. Nora looked up.

"What?" she asked, a bit softly.

"No, just checking you were still there," came his reply. Nora gave a weak smile; she still had two friends who cared for her.

"I'm fine," she said. It was only a bit louder than she normally spoke, but Harry and Ron still heard.

"Glad to hear that," Ron replied. Nora gave another weak smile. Just then more bone chilling creaks were heard.

"Right, so be prepared to fall!" Harry shouted right before the bridge failed and they all fell into the darkness behind Hermione and Draco.

Nora could hear the air rush past her as she fell deeper into the darkness. She prepared herself for the hard landing that would be her death, but when she landed it was a soft one and she even bounced up again. She slowly opened her eyes, afraid of what she might see, but slowly things came into view… things that were in her bedroom. Nora opened her eyes fully and found that she was in fact in her bedroom, lying on her bed, beside… Dean's necklace. She picked it up and held it to her heart.

"Thank God," she whispered.

Harry closed his eyes, waiting for the impact with the hard ground, but it never came. Instead he found himself on his broom, flying around in the Quidditch pitch.

"What the…?" he whispered, looking around. He tried to see anything out of the ordinary, only to conclude that he was really on his broom. "Creepy," he muttered.

Ron shielded his face with his arms, not wanting to fall to his death. He had even tried flapping his arms, hoping he could fly back up, but that hadn't worked. He waited for the painful impact with the ground but when it came, it didn't really happen like he had expected. First of all: he was still alive. Second of all: he wasn't really feeling any pain and Third of all: It was comfortably warm and he heard concerned voices all around him.

"Harry? Hermione? Nora?" he asked. No one replied. "Draco?" He tried carefully.

"Sir? Is you all right? Is sir hurt?" A squeaky voice asked. Ron felt something tugging at his shirt and he looked up to find a house elf standing in front of him.

"Where am I?" He asked.

"Sir is in the kitchen, sir," The house elf replied. "How may Tabby be helping you, sir?" The elf asked. It was dressed in a clean and white pillowcase and even had little shoes. Apparently the house elves had allowed Dumbledore to give them footwear, though they had refused any other clothes.

"Erm…" Ron said while looking around. He saw that he was indeed in the kitchens where about a dozen house elves were running around. Either he was in heaven or he wasn't dead. "You could get me some food," he replied, grinning to himself. Tabby snapped his fingers and immediately a bunch of house elves ran up, carrying trays of food.

Hermione felt her hands slip away from the wood. She struggled hard to get a better grip but she was already falling. She heard her name being called out by Nora and looked at her best friend helplessly. Suddenly Hermione felt a hand grip her wrist and as she tried to see who had saved her she found herself gazing in Draco's shockingly beautiful blue/gray eyes. Now was the first time she had not seen the coldness that had filled his eyes for the past years. Now she understood what Nora had kept blabbing on about whenever they had discussed Draco in Hogwarts.

Hermione felt herself being jerked back up a little when Draco stopped her from falling even further but she could see in Draco's eyes that the both of them wouldn't make it. She saw his hand slip and then felt herself fall again. Hermione closed her eyes tightly, waiting for herself to hit the ground but when she landed it was on something soft. Carefully opening her eyes she found herself sitting on a bunch of pillows, surrounded by thousands of bookshelves.

Draco lunged out to grab Hermione. He knew he'd be sorry if he didn't at least try to save her. He felt his hands close around her wrist and felt a jerk. He looked at his other hand and then at Hermione. He shook his head slightly. Then his hand slipped and the two of them fell into the blackness. Draco just let himself fall. He didn't close his eyes, shield his face or do anything else. He just let himself fall. When he entered the dark substance it was too dark for him to see anything and he almost knew for sure that this was no ordinary blackness… it had to be magical. When he landed, it was on something soft. Draco looked around and found himself in his bedroom, lying on his soft bed. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep instantly.

* * *

_A/N_: Good? I spent a pretty long time writing this. I hope it was a bit interesting. The song in the beginning was: Foo Fighters – Best of You. Thanks to all my reviewers! I appreciate it.

**Kat** – I put house elves being able to have shoes in there on purpose to show that these house elves weren't being mistreated. I cleared it out a bit in the chapter. Thanks for reading and reviewing my story. )


	28. History of the Concave Castle

_A/N_: Next chapter:

**Chapter 28: History of the Concave Castle**

Hermione found herself on very soft cushions on the floor, surrounded by millions and millions of books that were placed neatly on mahogany bookshelves. She decided to use the opportunity of being here, she might not be able to find the library later on, and see if she could find something about this castle they were in. Hermione got up and walked slowly through the bookcases, reading the spines of the books, hoping to find something about this fortress.

Hundreds of books were taken from their place and then put back as Hermione read their backs, trying to get a picture of the contents of the books. It seemed like hours before she had finally found a thick leather volume that was not sitting between two books on a bookshelf but laying on one of the working desks covered in a thick layer of dust. Hermione drew a deep breath and blew most of the filth off it, wiping the remains off with her hand.

"Home of the Four Founders," She whispered as she read the title. Hermione opened the book slowly and on the very first page was a magnificent picture of the castle when it had still been in its new state. Hermione flipped the page over and began to read:

_Thousands of years ago lived four friends who were called the Four Founders. These four had the same dream: To build the most excellent magical school in the whole wizard world. Young Witches and Wizards would come to this school and be taught magic._

The Four Founders worked together effortlessly for years while building the school and after that while teaching. Everything seemed to work as planned but a massive quarrel erupted between Salazar Slytherin and the other three. It all started in their home 'Hatsrowg'… the Concave Castle, as it is called today.

Hermione knew immediately that the letters from the name Hogwarts had been scrambled to form the name Hatsrowg but she stopped reading for there were no more sentences. Instead there was a small little square that seemed to grow bigger every second. Hermione was strongly reminded of what Harry had told her happened while he had been reading Tom Riddle's diary in his second year. Soon the square was big enough for Hermione to see the castle again, but very small. She leaned closer, in order to see better, but as she bent forward she felt herself being sucked into the picture.

Hermione landed with her feet on soft ground and looked around. She saw the forest that contained the water pool to the far left and the castle right in front of her. It was a beautiful light gray color with dark wooden window frames and oak front door. Hermione stood still for a few seconds, not knowing what to do. Obviously she had traveled back in time to when the Four Founders had lived but she didn't know what to do or where to go.

Just when Hermione was about to walk forward and enter the castle she heard two voices bellow at each other. With nothing else to do Hermione decided to investigate and she headed to the right, from where she thought the voices were coming. As she rounded the corner two figures came into view, mouths open wide and fists shaking. Hermione slowly walked forward, not wanting to interrupt their quarrel.

"THEY SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED IN OUR SCHOOL, GODRIC!" Yelled the man on the right.

"Calm down, Salazar!" The man on the left shouted over the other man's yells.

"I WILL MOST CERTAINLY NOT CALM DOWN! I HAVE SPENT HALF OF MY LIFE BUILDING THAT SCHOOL AND I DO NOT WISH TO SPEND THE REST OF IT TEACHING THOSE FILTHY MUDBLOODS!" Shrieked Salazar, fully outraged.

"You've taught Muggle-borns for twenty years without complaining, Salazar!" Bellowed Godric, fuming due to his friend's inconsideration. "You haven't complained up until now! What is different than twenty years ago?"

"I DO NOT WISH THAT MUDBLOODS GET AN ADVANTAGE OVER PUREBLOODS. ONLY PUREBLOODS SHOULD BE ABLE TO LEARN MAGIC!" Salazar bellowed back.

"That is preposterous, Salazar, and you know it! Muggle-borns have an equal chance at learning magic as the other witches and wizards!" Screamed Godric, shaking his fist in Salazar's face.

Hermione stood to one side in silence. She had known why the Four Founders had broken up but she never knew it had started with such a big battle. Hermione watched the quarrel as it got more and more dangerous, but she noticed that, even though they were beside themselves with rage, they never once took out their wands. The fight went on for what felt like hours and it came as a bit of a shock when Hermione saw Godric Gryffindor rush in her direction. She quickly got up from her seat on the ground.

"I'm s-sorry, sir, but I-I was s-somehow brought h-here by s-some kind of…" Hermione began, stuttering immensely, but Godric Gryffindor paid no attention and rushed right through her. Hermione felt a weird sensation as he walked through her and she spun around to find Gryffindor turn around, too, but he wasn't looking at her, instead he was staring at Salazar who seemed to have turned around, too. '_Are they starting another argument?_' Hermione thought exasperated. She turned around to find a curse shooting straight at her. She immediately ducked and realized that they weren't done with their fight but that they had merely reached another level of it; they were dueling.

Hermione crawled to one side and stood to watch the duel, her head moving from left to right and back as if it were a tennis match. She thought it was incredible how the two men could throw curses at each other in such swift movements. Not five minutes after the dueling had started, two women ran out of the castle, one with dark brown wavy hair and the other blonde.

"STOP IT! STOP THIS NONSENSE RIGHT NOW!" Screamed the blond one.

"STAY OUT OF THIS, HELGA!" Yelled Salazar and as he said it, he made a movement with his arm at her as if swiping something off a table, but instead Helga Hufflepuff flew backwards with extreme force and crashed into the outside walls of the castle.

"HELGA!" Shouted Rowena as she ran over to the limp body of her friend.

"There was no reason, Salazar!" Screamed Godric and he shot a spell at him, which had such a power that Hermione was pushed back a little as it passed her. The spell hit Slytherin square in the chest and he was thrown backwards into the air, only to land with a loud 'thump' meters away.

"Rowena!" Called Godric. The dark haired witch got up from the ground and dragged herself over to Gryffindor, her face tearstained.

"How could he, Godric?" She shouted when she had reached him. "There was no reason at all!"

"I know," agreed Gryffindor. "I know. But there is no time now. You must warn the Ministry and Aberan (Aib-uh-ran) Dumbledore about Salazar." Rowena Ravenclaw nodded and wiped her tears away determinedly before walking off towards the golden gates that surrounded the grounds. Like Hogwarts, you couldn't Apparate into or Disapparate out of Hatsrowg.

Godric Gryffindor watched Rowena walk towards the gates and his heart skipped a beat. He was about to call out to her and speak his feelings out loud when someone else called out before him. He saw Rowena turn around and a look of fear spread on her face. Godric turned around, too, only to find Salazar standing a few meters away, his wand held out, an evil grin on his face.

"Oh, no you don't," Salazar said. Rowena turned to look at Godric, unsure of what to do.

"Leave her alone, Salazar!" Godric shouted angrily. He would not allow anyone to hurt her.

"Why is that, Godric?" Asked Salazar menacingly. "Because you love her?" He added in a mocking voice. Gryffindor felt his temper boil. Rowena looked at the two men.

"What?" She asked quietly. Salazar looked at her.

"Ooooh, you mean you didn't know?" He said. Hermione thought he sounded a bit like Peeves. "Everyone knew, and you didn't? This is good fun." Godric looked at the man who used to be his best friend. In five years had had changed drastically and it was beyond him why.

"Leave her alone, Salazar!" Godric repeated, more resolutely, for Slytherin was still pointing his wand at Rowena.

"No," Salazar replied simply, and before anything could be done the two deadliest words escaped from his mouth and a jet of bright green light headed towards Rowena, hitting her in the stomach. For a minute she stood still, her eyes wide, then she collapsed onto the ground… the cleverest witch ever known was dead. Godric ran over to her immediately, hoping he would find her alive, but to no avail.

"Oh, before I forget," said Salazar. Godric turned to face him, his eyes full of pain. "She loved you, too." Gryffindor let out an almighty roar of anger and frustration before pointing his wand at Salazar, but rage had blocked out every spell in his mind and he couldn't think of anything to cast at his former friend. His arm slowly dropped to his side and he held Rowena in his arms, hugging her tightly. Salazar took this opportunity and shot the same blinding green light that had killed Rowena Ravenclaw at Godric. Godric had expected this but did nothing to prevent it and he, too, fell to the floor dead.

Hermione gasped loudly and looked at Salazar in fright as she covered her mouth, only to realize seconds later that he couldn't see or hear her. She took a few steps forward, trembling. Hermione knew Salazar had turned evil but she hadn't known he had killed his three closest friends. It was impossible, and yet she had seen it happen right in front of her. Which reminded her of a problem that had been bothering her all along: how was she going to get back into her own world? As if answering her question she saw everything spinning around her almost immediately and soon she felt herself fall onto the warm marble floor of the library.

Grabbing the working table, Hermione pulled herself up, still in shock. She snapped the thick leathery book shut and walked towards a large door, wondering how she was going to find her way to the others.

Hermione walked into a large corridor, lit by torches and covered with all sorts of paintings. A thought sprung to her mind. She walked over to a large painting of a woman standing on her balcony of her castle, smiling down on a man who was kneeling on the ground below.

"Erm… excuse me," began Hermione, hoping she wasn't disturbing anything.

"Yes?" Asked the woman on the balcony sweetly, turning her head to Hermione.

"I was wondering how I could find the way to the Entrance Hall," Hermione told her politely.

"Oh, that's simple dear," the woman said, smiling. "All you do is just walk in that direction," she explained, pointing to Hermione's left. "Go through the doors and you're there."

"Thanks." Hermione said and she walked off towards the large door, '_Home of the Four Founders'_ clutched tightly in her arms.

* * *

Draco got up from the cold stone floor and put a hand to his forehead. When he looked at it, it was covered with his blood. He looked up at the Death Eater standing in front of him.

"Stupefy!" cried Draco as he pointed his wand at the masked man. The Death Eater toppled over and lay unconscious on the floor. He looked around the room and saw Nora, Hermione and Ron dueling Death Eaters, too. On the other side of the room Harry was dodging Voldemort's curses with lightning speed, thanks to training. Draco looked to the right and saw a Death Eater charging at him. Thinking quickly, he cast another stupefying charm and then decided to help the others.

Draco began to cross the gloomy dark room but after a few paces the doors burst open and a hundred more Death Eaters stormed in. Draco's friends looked up, distracted by the sudden commotion, and they were hit by spells. The three struggled to get up and then took into hiding in a corner, casting spells at Death Eaters out from their new, hidden position. Draco stood in the middle of the room not knowing what to do. He turned around when he heard Voldemort laughing cruelly.

"Every time when I have tried to defeat you, I was hindered, but you will not escape me now!" He exclaimed in his icy high-pitched voice that raised the hairs on everyone's necks. Harry was lying sprawled on the floor, breathing fast. Draco tried to run over to him and help, but someone had caught his arm. He turned around and looked straight into the eyes of his father.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort shouted and Draco spun his head around to see a flash of bright green light hit Harry in the chest. Draco gave a great tug and freed himself of his fathers grasp. He ran over to Harry and crouched beside him, trying to see if he was still alive, but unfortunately Harry had not survived the curse this time. Lucius Malfoy walked up to Draco and held him painfully by the shoulders, not letting his son escape from his grasp a second time.

"Ah, Draco. How nice of you to join us again. I haven't seen you for quite a while, even though you are my heir. Of course, you will be punished," Voldemort said softly, but everyone in the room could hear him very clearly. Draco glared at Voldemort with his steely gray eyes, not letting the snake-like wizard frighten him. "Now, for your punishment…" whispered Voldemort. "Ah… but of course." He turned around and Draco gulped, knowing what was coming. "The little mudblood you love so much."

"Don't you dare," Draco whispered threateningly, knowing he was in no position to save her anymore. This only caused Voldemort to chuckle.

"I suppose it would be a nice punishment, wouldn't it?" said Voldemort, more to himself than to anyone else. "And it would do me a great satisfaction to kill some more mudbloods," he added.

"Do your Death Eaters know your father was a Muggle?" Nora asked him from her seat on the floor, Hermione and Ron behind her. Voldemort's face turned a good bit whiter than it normally was. His Death Eaters looked at him. "You mean you haven't told them? And they haven't found out yet? When Harry's said it out loud millions of times before? Boy, you lot sure are thick," Nora said, shaking her head and grinning. Draco wondered what the bloody hell she was doing; this would only enrage Voldemort more.

"Shut up! I will not have you speak of me that way!" Shrieked Voldemort. Nora laughed in his face.

"What are you doing?" shouted Draco, struggling to get free. Everyone turned to look at him and Nora surveyed him with her hazel eyes. Draco couldn't read if they were filled with love or hatred. Or both. "This is not going to help you!" Draco told her, feeling very frustrated. What was she? Suicidal?

"Can't you see?" Nora said, talking to him at last after so many hours, days, weeks of silent treatment. "There is no way out. Might as well have a bit of fun before I go. Mock the 'most powerful wizard of all time' a bit." It was very clear that Nora had put a sarcastic tone on 'most powerful wizard of all time'. She smiled as she saw Voldemort's face. "Aw, can't handle a little bit of teasing? No wonder you became this 'powerful'." Nora told him, more sarcasm in her voice. "If I didn't have any friends I'd buy them with 'power', too." She grinned evilly.

"STOP IT!" Shrieked Voldemort. He ran a hand through his hair, obviously very frustrated. No one in the room had seen the dark wizard ever this frustrated, except when Harry always managed to escape him. Nora laughed out loud and Voldemort pointed his wand at her determinedly. She looked at Draco and this time he could clearly see the love in her eyes, he almost felt that all of the love would spill out of her eyes and flood the whole room. Nora's evil grin faded and she was just smiling sorrowfully at Draco as Voldemort cast the spell that had killed Harry just moments before. Nora was hit in the stomach by the blinding green light and then she fell on the floor dead.

"Finish them off!" Yelled Voldemort, pointing at Hermione and Ron. Two Death Eaters stepped forward and seconds later the two students lay sprawled on the floor, dead, like Harry and Nora. Draco watched helplessly, unable to do anything, as his father was still painfully holding on to him. Tears filled his eyes and they were threatening to overflow.

"Now, I have decided," began Voldemort, looking Draco straight in the eyes, "That I do not need an heir any longer. Avada Kedavra," he muttered and Draco felt a painful jab in his stomach. Everything moved unsteadily in front of him and gradually his vision began to blur. Draco fell to the floor slowly and hit it with a loud 'thump'. He looked up into the cold red eyes of Voldemort and then into the warm gray eyes of his father. Warm? Draco did a double take and saw that his father's eyes were indeed not their usual stony cold gray.

"I'm sorry, my son." Lucius Malfoy whispered so no one else heard. Draco could only blink, letting loose the tears that he had held in his eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Then darkness spread over him with a feeling of unbearable cold and he closed his eyes for the last time.

* * *

Draco shot up in his bed, sweating all over. He grabbed his pillow and angrily chucked it out the window as he had done to a different one just last morning. He never wanted to have that nightmare _ever_ again. It seemed too real and caused him too much pain and anguish whenever he had to relive those terrible last moments. This was why he hadn't wanted Nora or Hermione to fight Voldemort. He was afraid the nightmare would become real life and that the girls wouldn't be able to protect themselves. Draco also thought that if Hermione and Nora weren't there, he, Harry and Ron would be able to fight the Death Eaters and Voldemort off a lot better.

Looking at his alarm clock, he saw it was 7:30 a.m. Draco got out of bed and dressed. He needed to go for a walk and get rid of the nightmare. Draco dressed himself and quietly walked into the hall, deciding to just go wherever his feet would take him.

After forty minutes Draco realized he was lost and had no idea which way he had come from or which way to go. Frustrated, he turned 'round and 'round in the large corridor, trying to see where to go. He finally stopped when something caught his eye. I was a large wooden door with a golden handle and high in the center were printed, also in gold, the words: "Salazar Slytherin". Draco stared at it and then at the corridor. For the first time he realized that it didn't look like the others. For one, it had beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The paintings were much more exquisite and the carpet was a wonderful crimson color. The walls were a creamish color and had foreign signs on it Draco didn't recognize.

Curiosity finally got the better of him and Draco slowly walked up to the large door and carefully opened it. First he couldn't see anything at all; the whole room was as black as the night, but when Draco stepped inside the torches on the walls burst into flame, casting eerie shadows around him. He looked around and came to the conclusion that it must be some working place for Salazar Slytherin. There was a large bookcase that reached the ten meter high ceiling and took up an entire wall, a large wooden desk stood in front of a window, covered by a green drape.

Parchment lay scattered all over the desk and floor and Draco walked over to inspect them. As he picked up what seemed to be some sort of manuscript, a single piece of blank parchment floated to the floor. Draco picked it up and turned it over and over but there was nothing on it at all. He lay it down on the desk and started looking through the other papers, but in his excitement he knocked over an open inkbottle.

"Bloody hell!" He shouted as he tried to get the papers out of the way. Luckily only the blank piece of parchment had gotten wet and it was now completely soaked with ink. Draco was about to crumple it up, he had no use for it now, when the ink was sucked into the parchment. He stared at it with disbelief and then turned the parchment over yet again, trying to see where the ink had gone off to.

"What the -" he whispered as words in neat cursive handwriting started forming on the parchment. "_Now that they have left._" Draco muttered as he read the title. He supposed it was some sort of diary that had belonged to Salazar Slytherin.

_It has been a whole year after I killed them and I am beginning to get a hold on my own life again. I still do not know what had possessed me to murder them and many, many others but I do know that I have fought it off. I was too strong. My memories of the good times have driven it away. _

_Sorrow fills me when I think back and I have hardly eaten for the past week. Hogwarts was in absolute ruins but Aberan Dumbledore fixed most of it up and is now running the school himself. I am not allowed near it or any of the students. To make matters worse he has locked me up in Hatsrowg and I have nothing here to take my mind off the horrible past six, seven years._

_I killed many Muggle-born students, numerous Muggles and my three closest friends. Nobody believes it wasn't really me, and I understand: it is too absurd to believe that something dark has possessed my body and controlled my actions for me._

_I remember every single detail, except for one thing: I have created a chamber inside Hogwarts that holds a terrible beast…but I do not remember where it is. It will only open to parselmouths so all I need to do is find where it is and then defeat the monster, but Aberan Dumbledore will not let me out of the castle…this monster will kill every Muggle-born student if it is let lose by my heir and I have no doubt that the dark magic that has possessed me the last few years will control my heir when he is just born, so he will not have a chance to fight against it._

Draco laid the piece or parchment down. Salazar Slytherin was good? Not evil, but good? It seemed impossible, yet here was the proof. Draco quickly got out of the chair he had seated himself in and ran out of the room and into any direction. He had to show this to Dumbledore. He stopped running. Dumbledore was mentioned in this. He scanned the parchment, searching for the part.

"Here it is." He muttered. '_Hogwarts was in absolute ruins but Aberan Dumbledore fixed most of it up._'Could this be some sort of ancestor of Dumbledore's? He would have to ask that, too. Draco started running again and turned corners whenever he thought was necessary. He had no clue which way he was to go, so he just guessed. After about an hour of running Draco, already exhausted, reacted too late when he saw a door open in front of him and ran head long into it. He fell to the floor, but didn't bother to get up; he needed rest.

"Oh my god! I'm sorry, Draco! Are you all right?" exclaimed Hermione as she laid the thick leathery book she was holding on the floor and then bent over Draco, who was panting rapidly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," replied Draco while rubbing his forehead.

"Why were you in such a hurry, anyway?" asked Hermione as she pulled him to his feet. She picked the thick book up again. Draco held the piece of parchment out in front of him, giving it to her.

"Here," he said. Hermione looked at it and then turned the parchment over.

"There's nothing on here."

"What? Oh. Well first you have to spill some ink all over it," Draco told her, taking the parchment back. "So what are you doing up at this hour?" He asked while peering down the corridor Hermione had come out of.

"I was in the library," Hermione replied.

"The library?" She nodded. "How did you find that? I can hardly find my own bedroom."

"I'm not quite sure, but remember when we fell off the bridge and into that thick dark mass?" Draco nodded. "Well, instead of landing on the ground somewhere outside, I landed in the library and so I decided to do some research. That reminds me, do you know what happened to the others?" Asked Hermione worriedly. Draco shook his head.

"No, sorry," he replied.

"Well, where did you land?"

"In my bedroom."

"Strange. So what are you doing up so early?"

"I was just taking a walk. What's that?" asked Draco hurriedly, while pointing at the huge leathery book in Hermione's arms. He didn't want Hermione to ask why he was taking a walk so early.

"It's a book I found in the library. It contains information on this castle," answered Hermione, deciding not to ask anything about Draco taking a walk so early; she had a pretty good idea what it was about.

"Really? That'll be very useful, won't it?" said Draco. Hermione nodded. "So… what do we do now?"

"I don't know. I guess we could look some more information up about this castle. Maybe find a map that shows all the halls and corridors so we don't get lost next time we're searching for something," suggested Hermione.

"All right," said Draco and he followed Hermione into the brightly lit corridor. She stopped in front of a large door and pushed it open revealing the large library to Draco.

"Wow… this is huge," he muttered. Hermione smiled.

"I know," she said, her eyes shining with excitement; she wished she could sit here all day.

* * *

A tall man stood staring out of a window in a dark, overcast room, his hands behind his back. In the corner was a small balding man, cowering for his master, drops of sweat trickling down his forehead. The tall man turned around, his red eyes full of rage.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S NOT THERE?" He suddenly bellowed. The balding man cringed even more. "ANSWER ME!"

"I-I-it isn't t-t-there a-anymore," came his terrified whisper.

"YOU HAVE TOLD ME THAT ALREADY, WORMTAIL! WHERE IS IT NOW?" Shrieked Voldemort in his high-pitched voice.

"I-I d-don't k-k-know," replied Wormtail, still cowering.

"Do you have any idea at all where it could be?" asked Voldemort menacingly.

"M-maybe one o-of the f-five has it, my lord," answered Wormtail.

"Yes. That has occurred to me long ago, but they have been one step ahead of me and have taken into hiding," muttered Voldemort, still in that same frightening high-pitched voice.

"Y-you will b-be able to f-find them, won't you?" An evil glint twinkled in the tall man's red eyes and a wicked grin spread over his face. He spoke in what was barely a whisper, but it was menacing all the same.

"I will not only find them… I will kill them, too… Malfoy!" A door to the right swung open and in walked a tall figure, dressed in a long gray cloak, a hood covering his face.

"What is it?" Asked Lucius Malfoy in a cold voice.

"Get the others ready to perform the new plan as soon as possible. I know where our little friends are hiding," came the dark lord's reply. A malicious grin came on Malfoy's face, though his mask hid it.

"Where?" He asked, anticipation in his voice.

"Hatsrowg, also known as the Concave Castle," replied Voldemort as he stepped into a small amount of light given by a single torch.

* * *

Harry shot straight up in his bed, clutching his scar, which felt like it was burning a hole in his forehead. He looked around the room, panting, not letting go of his scar. Harry could only remember very few times when it had hurt him this much before and all of those times had been quite a while ago; this worried him.

Only a few parts of the nightmare were still vividly in his head and he strained himself to hold on to them, but slowly the details were leaving his memory. Harry could only remember that Voldemort knew where they were hiding and wasn't sure if it was really true, after all he himself had no idea where they were or what the name of this strange castle was. What had Voldemort called it? Hastrig? Hatsrowg? Hatsrowg! That was it! He remembered it now!

Harry jumped out of bed got dressed and hammered on Ron's door for what felt like an eternity.

"Ron! Quit snoring and wake up, you drooling trumpet!" He yelled, pounding loudly on Ron's door. A door to the left opened and out poked Nora's head, her eyes half shut. She yawned sleepily.

"What on earth are you making all that racket f-f-for?" She asked, trying to stifle another huge yawn.

"I'll tell you later, first I've got to wake him up," Harry replied, pointing to Ron's door. He was about to start beating again when the door opened and Ron's head poked out, looking very angry.

"What… on… earth… did… you… wake… me… for?" he asked threateningly.

"I'll explain to both of you on the way to Dumbledore," Harry answered hurriedly. "Get dressed as fast as you can and meet me back here in the hall," Nora and Ron disappeared in their rooms and came back out about five minutes later.

"Spill," said Ron. His bad mood had cleared up a bit. Harry explained about his nightmare, though it went very difficult since he hardly remembered anything of it at all.

"You mean he knows where we are?" asked Nora, terrified. Harry nodded curtly and then explained about his scar hurting.

"It hurt really severely?" asked Ron, horrified. Harry nodded again. "You should go to Dumbledore. He'll know what to do." Harry looked at his best friend.

"Where do you think we're going?" He questioned.

"Just testing you. At least you can still think clearly," Ron answered, pretending he had been stupid on purpose, but no one fell for it; they had known him for too long.

* * *

Hermione and Draco were both sitting in the library looking through all sorts of books, trying to get more information, but no such luck yet. Hermione heaved a big sigh as she snapped a thick green book shut.

"Rubbish," she muttered as she put it back on its bookshelf. Draco was on the other side of the library flipping through a very thick black book Hermione thought might contain some useful information. She decided to go over and ask. As she crossed a small open clearing in the middle of the library her Amulet, that she wore at all times, suddenly shot a bright crimson light through the large room. Draco looked up at the Amulet and snapped his book shut.

"Come on," he said roughly as he grabbed Hermione by the arm and pulled her out of the library.

"What? Where are we going?" She asked as Draco dragged her through the wonderful corridor and into the Entrance Hall.

"Dumbledore," replied Draco, turning his head every which way and finally letting go of Hermione.

"Oh, right," said Hermione. Stupid she hadn't thought of it herself, maybe the sudden light had just startled her, but realization dawned upon her as she remembered what the red light was for.

_If Good is feeling very strong emotions or powerful the Amulet will give off a bright blue light. If Evil is at a particular powerful stage, however, the Amulet will shine a bright red light._

Hermione remembered this information clearly now, she was the one who had looked it up in a public library after all, and knew it was critical for them to find Dumbledore. She walked over to a painting of a horse grazing on one side and a knight sitting on a floor on the other, looking extremely befuddled. Hermione thought the knight looked an awful lot like Sir Cadogan, the crazy knight who's picture hung somewhere near the north tower in Hogwarts, but she decided to let it go.

"Excuse me," said Hermione to the knight, who had grass stains all over his armor.

"Ah, a damsel in distress!" shouted the knight. He quickly got up, grabbed his sword and started fighting an invisible enemy.

"Erm… yes," said Hermione. "I have a question." The knight stopped fighting and turned to her.

"An inquiry! Ask me anything! I know all!" He shouted.

"Could you tell us where Dumbledore's office is?" Asked Hermione, hoping with all her might that the squat knight did know.

"A Quest!" He shouted. "Of course, my dear lady! Follow me!" The knight ran over to his gray pony and tried to mount it but he slipped and landed loudly on the ground. "On foot then!" He said, as he got up off the ground. The knight ran into a picture on the left and Hermione and Draco followed him. They were led up the marble staircase and down many beautiful corridors they had never seen before. Along the way they crashed into Harry, Nora and Ron and now the five of them followed the knight who was running two paintings ahead.

"Reminds you of Sir Cadogan the mental knight, doesn't he?" Ron muttered to Harry.

"Yeah. Wonder if they're related," Harry muttered back.

"Hurry, my gentle men and fair ladies!" The knight yelled as he went up yet another staircase, the other's following, panting hard. "It is not far, now!"

Finally the clanking of armor stopped and the knight was standing in a painting beside a large stone unicorn with a bright shining golden horn.

"Thanks," the five students told the knight.

"It was not a problem at all," the knight replied.

"Say… you wouldn't know of a sir Cadogan, would you?" Ron asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Why… yes… that would be me, kind sir," came the knight's reply. Ron frowned.

"You have a painting here and in Hogwarts?" he asked.

"No, I do not. I only have a painting here," The knight told Ron, then his face lit up with understanding. "Ahhh… you are, perhaps, referring to my kind brother, are you not?" He asked. Ron shrugged.

"I dunno. Is he some mental knight running around in armor challenging people to duel with him?" He asked before he could stop himself.

"Yes! Yes, he is," The knight said, smiling proudly. He pointed to the Unicorn. "The next part of your quest will have to be done without me. I am off!" He shouted and then ran into the next paintings, the clanking of his armor fading slowly.

"Right," Harry said, turning to the others.

"What do we do now?" Hermione asked.

"Guess the password, right?" said Ron.

"How?" asked Hermione, looking at the stone unicorn.

"Well, it's Dumbledore, isn't it? So, it'll probably some sort of candy," Harry told her. "Cockroach Clusters," he said, but nothing happened.

"Beet-ums," said Ron. Still no movement.

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans," suggested Hermione.

"Chocolate Frogs," said Harry.

"Ton Tongue Toffee," suggested Ron, yet still nothing happened.

"Treacle Tart," said Draco, but no movement.

"Butterbeer," said Hermione

"Jam tarts," offered Draco.

"Custard Creams," recommended Harry, beginning to give up hope.

"Canary Creams," said Nora, deciding to give it a shot, too. To her surprise the stone Unicorn came to life, pawed the ground with its left hoof, eying them suspiciously as if knowing they didn't really know the password, and then stepped aside to let them through the door it was guarding.

Harry opened the door and walked into a very wide and brightly lit corridor. Candles were floating above them and paintings of the Four Founders hung on the walls. The five students looked around in amazement when they suddenly walked into a large circular room with long crimson drapes hanging from a ten meter high ceiling. On the walls were pictures of the Four Founders and on the other side of the room was a little elevated section with more bookcases.

"How many books does this castle hold?" muttered Draco under his breath.

"More than one million," whispered Hermione, leaning over to him so that he could hear her. Draco looked at her, a befuddled look on his face for a very split second; he hadn't really expected an answer from anyone. Hermione gave him a little smile before gazing around the room again.

In the center of the room was a large oval table with twelve chairs around it and a fireplace to the right was crackling merrily, casting odd shadows around the room. A soft chirping sound turned the attention of the five to a bird stand on the left where a beautiful phoenix sat.

"Fawkes!" Exclaimed Harry happily as he walked over to the red bird and started petting it's brilliant head.

"I see you have found your way into my office once again," said a friendly voice behind them. The five students turned around to find Dumbledore standing in the doorway, smiling down upon them all, his eye twinkling as usual.

"Yes," said Harry as he walked away from Fawkes and over to his friends. "We have some things to tell you, sir," he told Dumbledore.

"Well then, let's have a seat, shall we?" Dumbledore said and he walked over to the large table and sat down. Harry sat down right across from him, Hermione and Ron on either side of Harry. Nora took a seat beside Hermione and Draco sat down next to Ron, wishing there was at least another Slytherin here with him.

"What is it?" Asked Dumbledore, looking more serious. Harry decided to go first.

"I had a nightmare and when I woke up my scar hurt worse than it had done for a long while," he began. Harry paused a little and then told Dumbledore all about the nightmare. "He knows where we are, sir," he finished, worry in his voice. Dumbledore sat with his elbows on the table, his fingertips put together, clearly in deep thought.

"What exactly did he last say before you woke up?" He asked, gazing at the ceiling. Harry frowned, trying to remember.

"I believe his exact words were: 'Hatsrowg, also known as the Concave Castle.' Then he stepped into the light and I woke up," Harry said. Hermione looked at him. This piece of information confirmed that Voldemort did indeed know where they were hiding and she was, truth be told, feeling very anxious and unprotected.

As if reading her thoughts, Dumbledore said:

"There is no need to worry, this castle is well protected. Voldemort will be unable to harm any of you while you're here."

"That's what you said about Hogwarts, too," muttered Draco, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Very good point, Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore said. Draco kept staring at the table but his ears turned a pinkish color, clearly he hadn't expected anyone to hear. "But I think that problem has been solved. Harry?" Harry looked from Draco to Dumbledore.

"Yes?" He asked, a bit confused.

"What do you know about a snake?" Dumbledore asked. Harry frowned at him. '_A snake?_' He thought, bewildered. '_I don't know any snakes… Except the one I set loose on Dudley in the zoo. WAIT!_'

"Nagini," he told Dumbledore.

"Is she Voldemort's snake?" Asked Dumbledore, looking at Harry intently.

"Yes," replied Harry, wondering what Nagini had to do with this. Again it seemed like Dumbledore could read minds because he said:

"I believe she is the one that made our protection charms on Hogwarts go haywire. I have said a long time ago that only a powerful magic animal would be able to do it and Nagini certainly seems strong enough," Dumbledore explained. "Now I believe there were other things I needed to know, too?" He asked, looking at the others.

"Yes," Hermione said, sitting up straight. "While Draco and I were in the library my Amulet shot off a red color. That's why we tried to find you." Ron looked at her in disgrace; What was Hermione doing in the library with a Slytherin?

"What time was this?" Asked Dumbledore.

"Around quarter to ten," replied Hermione.

"Harry? When did you wake up?" Dumbledore questioned Harry. Harry thought for a minute before replying:

"Around that time, I think," He said.

"I believe that when Voldemort told Lucius Malfoy where he thought we were hidden, a burst of powerful evil energy spread through the two, causing the Amulet to shine red." Dumbledore told the five students sitting in front of him. "Anything else?"

"Yes. I found Salazar Slytherin's diary," said Draco, laying the blank piece of parchment on the table. Harry and Ron looked at him as if he were mad. Hermione looked at Dumbledore, to see his reaction, and Nora stared hard at her hands, which were fidgeting nervously. Dumbledore picked up the blank parchment and looked at it closely for a few minutes before pulling open a drawer in the desk and taking out a bottle of ink.

"If I am not mistaken," he began, while unscrewing the inkbottle. "This parchment will only show its contents when it is covered in ink like Tom Riddle's diary, am I right?" Dumbledore questioned Draco, who nodded. "Well then, here we go." And with that the old wizened man poured the entire inkbottle empty over the parchment that he had laid on the table. At first nothing happened and then, like it had done before, the ink seemed to be draining into the parchment until no drop was to be spotted. The six waited for about a minute before words started forming at the top, slowly making their way to the bottom.

"Interesting," muttered Dumbledore as he started reading. Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco watched him for a few minutes before he finally spoke again, a slight frown on his forehead. "Apparently this piece of parchment is the only evidence that Salazar Slytherin was not the evil Muggle-born hater like we thought."

"What?" said Harry, who wasn't quite sure he had heard right. "Did you say Salazar Slytherin _wasn't_ evil?"

"Yes," replied Dumbledore, who was now tapping the parchment with his wand, trying to see if it wasn't fake. "Yes I did," he said again, looking up.

"But he built the Chamber of Secrets," said Ron, sitting up. "How can he not be evil if he built a chamber, put a basilisk inside and ordered it to start killing off Muggle-borns next time someone lets him out?"

"Very well noticed, Mr. Weasley," said Dumbledore. Ron sat back in his chair, ears turning bright red. "Salazar says in his diary," explained Dumbledore, waving that parchment a little with his hand, "that he was possessed by some kind of dark matter."

"Come again?" said Ron, furrowing his eyebrows a little.

"Some kind of darkness possessed him and made him do all sorts of evil things, like building that chamber, killing Muggle-borns and even killing his three closest friends."

"He didn't," said Nora before she could stop herself.

"I'm afraid so," Dumbledore told her.

"What if it's a lie?" Began Harry. "I mean, the only proof we have of that is his diary and maybe it's not really true. Maybe he didn't even kill his own friends. Maybe it's all some sick lie just to fool who ever stumbles across it." Dumbledore seemed to think this over.

"We do not know what happened and what didn't, no one does."

"I do," Hermione said softly. Everyone looked at her and she heaved the heavy leather book out of her lap and set it down on the table. "I saw it myself."

"You… saw it?" Asked Harry. Hermione nodded.

"The exact same way like you saw Tom Riddle get Hagrid expelled, remember?"

"Yeah, but how could you see it in a book?"

"I was reading and suddenly this little square grew larger and larger and next thing I know I'm sucked into it and I land in front of this castle a good thousand years ago," explained Hermione.

"What exactly did you see, Hermione?" Asked Dumbledore softly. Hermione began to describe all of the events she had witnessed, very aware of the fact that everyone was watching her intently.

* * *

_A/N_: I spent some time writing this so I hope it's a bit good. 


	29. All Because of Voldemort

_A/N_: I'm very sorry for the long wait, very, very sorry grovels … Anyway, I won't keep you even longer, next chapter:

**Chapter 29: All Because of Voldemort**

Hermione finished telling Dumbledore about the events she had witnessed nearly half an hour later, the others watching her intently.

"And then everything started swirling around and I land on the floor in the library again," she finished. There was a long silence, interrupted only by the frequent pops and crackles coming from the fireplace.

"Seems we do have proof after all," Dumbledore concluded after a short while. "So Salazar Slytherin was possessed by an evil that made him murder his friends, Muggle-borns and Muggles?" he asked Hermione, who nodded. "And that same dark something possessed all of Slytherin's heirs, too?" He asked Draco, who nodded too.

"Yes, at least it says so in the Diary," said Draco. Dumbledore nodded, he put the tips of his fingers together and rested his chin upon them.

"Now, Hermione," he began, looking at the five students intently. Hermione watched her headmaster apprehensively, not knowing what on earth he could ask now. "You say you landed in the library… again." Hermione hesitated before nodding. "When did you land there the first time?" Questioned Dumbledore. Hermione gave a slight sigh of relief before answering.

"I landed there first after I fell into that black substance up at the south part of the castle," she responded. Dumbledore gave her a slightly confused look and Hermione didn't blame him; it had sounded pretty normal in her head, yet when she had said it, it made her come off slightly barmy.

"You fell into a black substance and then landed in the library?" Asked Dumbledore. Harry decided it was a good time to explain what had happened to them after they set off to get to know the castle a bit better.

"Well, you see, sir," Harry began and Dumbledore turned his head to look at him. "After our first training we set off to explore the castle again but we got lost and so we just went anywhere without knowing how to get back. Then, after a long while, we found ourselves on some kind of balcony with a long wooden bridge that connected it to the other part of the castle, which we couldn't see. Deciding it was foolish to try and retrace our steps in the hope of finding our way to the Entrance Hall, we decided to risk it and walk across the bridge. Draco volunteered to go first and, after having tested the bridge was strong enough, he walked across. I went after him and slowly we went forward, but then Nora, Hermione and Ron caught up with us saying a large troll was behind them. Before we could take another step the bridge started creaking and swaying wildly; the troll had gotten on, too. Of course we couldn't just stand there so we started running as fast as we could, but the other side of the castle was still nowhere in sight." Harry paused there, without knowing exactly why. He had just realized something: How on earth could a troll have gotten in this castle and been so near without them smelling it first, before seeing it?

"Go on, Harry," said Dumbledore, watching him intently.

"Oh, right." Harry snapped out of his thoughts and went back to the story. "As we walked further and further the bridge kept creaking in protest to the heavy weight. Finally it snapped and we held on for dear life to what was left of the overpass. All the while, when we had been walking along it, we had noticed the looming darkness beneath us, but not as much as when we were hanging a few meters above it. As we were hanging on we tried to find a way to get out of this mess, but nothing came to us. The first thing that fell into the darkness was Nora's necklace. Almost right after that, Hermione's hands slipped and she, too, fell down. Draco caught her, but the extra weight was too much and they both entered the dark substance. Now it was only Nora, Ron and I hanging to the bridge but it couldn't hold us any longer and we, too, fell into the darkness. I closed my eyes when I entered and when I opened them again I was on my broom in the Quidditch pitch," finished Harry. Nora, who had been staring at the gleaming wooden table, looked up at Dumbledore and saw, to her astonishment, that he was smiling.

"Ah, sounds like you've had a very interesting adventure," said the old man. "No wonder I never saw you at lunch or dinner. Seems like your exploring took up all of your time. Now, does anyone know what the dark substance was?" Asked Dumbledore. Harry, Nora and Ron all looked at Hermione, but, to their surprise, her hands remained on the table. Though this wasn't as big as a shock to them as when Draco slowly lifted up his arm. The others stared at him, except Nora, who had started gazing at the table again.

"Yes, I knew you would have guessed it by now, Draco. Would you care to share it with the others?" Asked Dumbledore. Draco shrugged.

"_Desiderare in Donum Nocte_," he said. Dumbledore nodded and the rest looked a bit less confused, Hermione had even whispered 'oooh' in understanding, but Ron said bluntly:

"What?" as he stared at his neighbor. Draco, instead of rolling his eyes, which took a great deal of effort from him, turned to look at Ron.

"Roughly translated it means: 'to wish in the gift of night'," he said.

"I see," said Ron while nodding slightly, but the confused expression was still very clear on his face.

"Would you be so kind as to tell us what it does, Draco?" Asked Dumbledore. Draco shrugged again.

"When you fall into it you're transported to wherever you wish to be at that time," he explained. The confused expression on Ron's face cleared up.

"Correct. Which is why Hermione landed in the library and Harry in the Quidditch pitch." Dumbledore told them. "And I assume Ron found himself in the kitchen's?" Ron nodded, a grin upon his face as though he had been in heaven and could think of no other place that was more pleasurable. Luckily Dumbledore didn't ask where Nora and Draco had found themselves, but Nora suspected he knew and was just keeping it to himself, for which she was very grateful.

"Now that we're all up to date I suggest we all have some lunch and then start the second part of training," said Dumbledore. The five students nodded and got up. Dumbledore led them out of his office and they followed him back down into the Entrance Hall, as they had no idea which way to go.

Lunch was absolutely delicious and the five stuffed themselves until they could eat no more. They all refilled their plates three times, in Ron's case five, because they had, after all, missed the previous lunch, dinner and breakfast.

When they were all filled, Dumbledore led them to the training area they had used the previous day. Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco followed their Headmaster into the room and he began to explain today's schedule.

"Today we will start learning how to use the amulet of Era's as an aid to help us regain our power when in battle. I suspect you all think that, when you're in need of more strength, you just touch the Amulet and you're fit again. This is, unfortunately, very wrong. If there is hardly any strength left in your body and you need to regain it, you must touch the Amulet with your wand hand and concentrate deeply on your color and how you wish to use you're your regained force. Any questions? Hermione?"

"How will we practice this?"

"You will be fighting each other and when you feel that you are wearing out, you walk over to Hermione and do as I have just explained." Dumbledore told them. "Anything else?" Hermione raised her hand again. "Yes?"

"Well, how are the others supposed to touch my Amulet when I'm fighting?"

"You will be fighting in turns, meaning two people will fight and the others watch until it is their turn. Yes?" said Dumbledore as Harry raised his hand.

"When the real battle comes, what if Voldemort touches the Amulet. Will it 'associate' with him, too? Will his 'color' shine after fifteen minutes, like it did with us?" Asked Harry and he knew there was a slight sound of fear in his voice.

"No, it will not. The Amulet, after so many, many, years, has acquainted with good first and it knows who our mortal enemy is. When our mortal enemy touches it, it will not help him like it will us, but it will scorch his hand and he will not be able to hold his wand properly until his hand his fully healed again, and that might take years or it might take seconds. Now, if there are no further questions, let's start. Harry, Ron, you go first," said Dumbledore. Harry and Ron walked to the middle of the room as the others headed over to the walls. "When I say 'Go' you will start dueling and as soon as one of you feels worn out, come over to Hermione and touch the Amulet, but remember: concentrate on your color and what you wish to do with your regained strength. It might take a while before you have fully learned how to retrieve power from it, but we will keep practicing until all of you know how to. Go!"

Harry and Ron immediately snapped their heads to face the other and held their wands in front of them.

"Stupefy!" Yelled Harry, and a flash of red light shot from his wand. Ron, who had waited for something like this, yelled "Protego!" and Harry's red light bounced off his protection shield and hit the wall. Harry did not wait for Ron to make the next move but shot another spell at his friend.

"Tarantallegra!" He shouted and Ron, who had not expected this, was hit in the stomach and his legs immediately went into a kind of frenzied tap-dance that unbalanced him and caused him to fall to the floor. Though Ron was incapable of getting up, he did not let this interfere with his battle with Harry and shot the first curse at his friend that entered his head.

"Petrificus Totalus!" He yelled and Harry, though shocked for a second or two, jumped away just in time; he felt the spell rush past his ear as he moved quickly to the right.

"Reducto!" Shouted Ron, not letting Harry recover.

"Protego!" Yelled Harry and Ron's spell bounced off against the shield and hit the ceiling. Ron quickly pointed his wand at his legs, said 'Finite Incantatem' and then quickly got to his feet, ready to head off any spell shot in his direction.

Nora, Hermione, Draco and Dumbledore stood to the side, watching the battle intensely. It took forty-five minutes before the pair was finally exhausted and they walked over to Hermione. Ron touched the Amulet with his wand arm and closed his eyes tightly, trying to focus on his color and his goal for which he needed new strength. After ten minutes he let go and stood aside sulkily; it hadn't worked. Harry stepped forward now and touched the Amulet with his right hand, closing his eyes tightly like Ron had. Five minutes later a faint red glow filled the room and Harry let go, looking very refreshed. Dumbledore smiled.

"Very good. Of course it will have to be done much faster, because Death Eaters won't wait until you've regained strength," he said. "Try again." Harry and Ron went back to the middle of the room, though it was clear Ron didn't want to; he looked like he could faint any second. It was not a surprise, therefore, when Ron, after five minutes, walked back up to Hermione and touched the Amulet again, closing his eyes tightly and focusing hard on his color and his goal. After fifteen minutes still nothing had happened but Ron did not let go of the Amulet, instead held it in his whole hand rather than just touching it, and closed his eyes even tighter. This seemed to have helped because a few seconds later a faint orange light filled the room and Ron let go of it, smiling.

Now that both Harry and Ron had learned how to regain strength from the Amulet Nora, Hermione and Draco were next. Hermione learned it at the first try in three minutes and Dumbledore explained this was because she was the 'carrier' and the Amulet already knew her well enough to quickly give her help when in need. Nora learned it on the second try, though a bit faster than Ron and Draco, who was already on his fifth try and still hadn't learned it. He stood there holding the Amulet while closing his eyes and concentrating hard on his color and what he would do when he had regained strength.

Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Dumbledore watched intently, though none was wondering why it was taking him so long; Draco was a Slytherin and they, Harry, Nora, Hermione and Ron, were Gryffindors like Merlin, who'd made the Amulet, had been. Finally, on the seventh try the room was filled with a faint green light and Draco stepped away, a wave of relief washing over him.

"Now that we have all learned how to regain force from the Amulet, you shall continue fighting each other and learn how to regain power more rapidly. Harry, Draco, when you're ready," said Dumbledore. Harry and Draco walked to the middle of the room, faced each other and held their wands out in front of them. "Go," said Dumbledore.

"Stupefy!" Yelled Harry but Draco dodged it.

"Rictusempra!" shouted Draco. A beam of silver light shot out of his wand and rushed past Harry, who had quickly jumped out of the way.

It took quite sometime before one of them got tired and Harry walked up to Hermione once more. She gave Harry an encouraging smile before he took the Amulet in his hands. Almost immediately the room was filled with a faint red light.

"I see Harry has already mastered how to regain strength from the Amulet. Ron, Draco, you're next. Go," said Dumbledore. In an instant the room was filled with shouts and flashes of spells and curses again. It did not take too long before Draco had to leave battle and walk over to the Amulet that still hung around Hermione's neck. Half an hour later the room filled with a faint green light and he let go. Next was Hermione and Ron and after that Nora and Hermione. Hermione mastered the strength regaining as quick as Harry but Nora and Ron both waited for fifteen minutes, holding on to the amulet tightly, concentrating on their color.

It was half past six when they were finally done with training, though Nora, Ron and Draco still hadn't fully mastered it yet.

"Now, as yesterday, I will leave you to find the way to the Entrance Hall yourselves. Dinner will be waiting when you arrive," said Dumbledore, then he turned around and vanished. The five students stood gaping at the place where their headmaster had been seconds before.

"Wish I knew how to do that," muttered Ron. "That would save me some time getting lost in this bloody castle, that would." Harry sighed.

"Let's go, then, if we want to arrive in time for dinner," he said. The others nodded and they walked down the hall. They found the torture room again, as well as some other rooms they had seen the previous day, but there was no sign of how to get to the Entrance Hall.

They were now in a besmirched corridor that had a door on every inch of wall. Harry, who was in front, opened the first door he saw and entered the room as the others tried the other doors. A foul stench reached Harry's nose but he could not see who or what it belonged to, as there was no window in the room or any light. A vociferous rumbling told him the stench might belong to a troll and he quickly ran out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Colloportus!" He panted, pointing his wand at the door. It sealed itself with a squelching sound and he walked towards the next door, trembling. The next room he entered was lit with torches that hung from the walls and luckily there was no foul smell. The door snapped shut behind Harry and a slight breeze gave him chills. The room was quite damp. In the corners that were not receiving any light, shuffling was heard and Harry raised his wand in front of him. Suddenly, out of every corner, Dementors appeared, their faces hidden beneath large hoods. They slowly made their way towards Harry, who stood frozen to the spot. He could hear the rattling breaths and saw the rotten slimy hands protrude from underneath their black cloaks.

There were about a hundred of them, all gliding towards him, and unexpectedly Harry slumped to the ground. He heard a man yelling, shouting…

"It's him! Run, Lily! Take Harry and run! I'll hold him off! RUN!" Harry saw a flash of bright green light and then heard another voice, this time a woman's…

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!" Harry knew who the voices belonged to; after all, he had heard them before, in his third year and all the nights after, in his nightmares, but that did not prepare him when the next voice said, in a cruel shrill voice that made him shiver furiously:

"Stand aside, you silly girl… stand aside, now…"

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead! Not Harry! I'll do anything! Please… have mercy… have mercy…" Harry was very aware that he was on the floor and he could see the Dementors coming closer and closer. Another voice entered his head now, a different one from his father, mother or Voldemort's voice.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" Yelled the man and Harry knew it was Sirius this time, that night in the Ministry of Magic, the Department of Mysteries. A bright red light flashed and next thing he knew Harry heard himself shouting out "SIRIUS!" to the room. And again: "SIRIUS!" In his mind he could see Lupin holding him back, preventing him from running to the Dais where the veil was fluttering wildly and where Bellatrix Lestrange stood laughing.

A wave of such fury washed over Harry that his scar seared with immense pain and he screamed involuntarily. Seconds later he heard the door to the room burst open and four voices shouting: "Expecto Patronus!" Harry could feel something warm swoop over him and heard hooves land inches from his face. He realized that one of the Dementors had been on the verge of 'kissing' him; sucking his soul out through his mouth. Harry heard a few cracks and then the voices shouted "Riddikulus!" That was all Harry heard before fainting.

* * *

"That was some evil room," muttered a voice from far away.

"Horrible, just horrible," said another.

"I just hope he wakes up soon," said yet a different voice. Harry squinted a little. His back was hurting him painfully and he guessed he was lying on some sort of stone floor. He tried to listen to the voices; get an idea of where he was. The only thing he could remember was a bone-chilling cold and the voices of his parents and godfather. Maybe he was dead?

"Who on earth would be so malicious and put about a hundred boggarts in one room?" Exclaimed a voice nearby, though it was fading in and out. "Facing a hundred things that form your greatest fear? I'm surprised he didn't faint immediately!"

"Hermione, calm down. You're voice has gone supersonic again. My ears won't stop ringing if you keep on using that high-pitched tone," said the first voice. Harry stopped squinting; He was lying on the floor and his friends were there, but why didn't they take him to the hospital wing or something?

"I will not calm down, Ron! Dumbledore should have cleaned out this castle before he makes us find our way around it! We nearly got slaughtered by that troll yesterday, and just now Harry was almost kissed by a hundred Dementors!" Harry slowly opened his eyes. It was hard to make anything out due to the light that shone directly in his eyes but he saw the tall form of Ron leaning against the dirty wall before a whole bunch of hair hid him from his view.

"Harry? Harry, are you alright?" asked Hermione, worry on her face. Harry closed his eyes and opened them again.

"Yes," he said hoarsely.

"Oh thank god! You gave us quite a fright!" Squealed Hermione.

"Budge up, there, 'Mione," said Ron anxiously before pushing Hermione aside a bit. Normally she would argue back and tell Ron off for his manners, and it was clearly on her face she was about to do so, but after another look at Harry she got up and gave Ron some space.

"All right there, mate?" asked Ron. Harry nodded and tried to get up, but Ron held him down. "Oh no you don't. Not before you have some chocolate." Ron looked at the others. "Anybody here have some?" He asked them hopefully. Nora and Draco shook their heads but Hermione beamed as brightly as she did when she had earned Gryffindor more housepoints.

"I do. I always take some with me, just in case," she said while reaching into the pocket of her shorts. Harry watched her rummage around for a while and wondered how on earth she was taking so long to find some chocolate in such a small pocket. "Oh, I do hope I have some with me," said Hermione anxiously. Her face light up. "Ah, here it is." She took a piece of chocolate wrapped in red paper out of her pocket and handed it over to Harry, who took it. He had expected it to be all warm and soggy, as it had been in her pouch, but it was quite the opposite: the chocolate was hard and comfortably cool. Harry unwrapped it and took a bite. Almost immediately he began to warm up and feel a lot better. When he had eaten the entire piece Ron helped him to his feet.

"Are you all right, then?" he asked.

"Yeah, much better, thanks to Hermione's chocolate," replied Harry. Hermione beamed at him.

"Good," said Ron. "What do we do now? Just keep on wandering?" He asked.

"I guess," replied Harry. The others nodded.

"Ok. We'll leave this corridor alone though; I don't think the other doors will be much better," said Ron and he started walking to the end of the corridor where a brighter lit hall crossed it. Harry followed right away and Nora, Hermione and Draco soon pursued. The five wandered around for a while, walking up staircases, walking down staircases, carefully avoiding rooms that had noises coming out of them, carefully avoiding rooms that were completely silent… needless to say they didn't get very far.

"Stop," said Hermione when they had entered yet another hallway, though it was vastly larger and brighter than all the other corridors put together. Harry, Nora, Ron and Draco stopped and turned to look at her. Hermione said nothing; instead she was biting her lip.

"Well?" asked Ron impatiently. Hermione continued chewing her lip for a few seconds and then said:

"I think we should start opening doors again."

"What?" spluttered Ron, eyes bulging. "Where were you the last few days?"

"I know that some doors contain dangerous animals or devices or… things, but we've got to try, haven't we? I mean, there's no other way we'll find our way back if we don't check behind every door. One of these grubby doors," said Hermione, while waving her hand around, indicating the doors, "might contain a passageway that leads to the Entrance Hall. We'll never know unless we try every one." Ron still looked at her as if she were mad.

"Are you insane? What if Fluffy's hidden behind one of these doors? Or something worse!" He bellowed.

"Fluffy's hidden behind a door in the Entrance Hall and we'll just have to risk it," replied Hermione simply. Ron gaped at her, completely speechless.

"I think we should," said Harry. Ron turned to gape at him, instead now.

"I agree. It's the only shot we've got," said Nora. Ron spun around angrily but admitted defeat.

"Fine. I'll go and endanger my life, but if I get killed it's all your fault!" He shouted, while pointing at Hermione, Harry and Nora.

"Yes, yes. If you get killed, which you won't, it'll be our fault," agreed Hermione impatiently while pointing at herself, Harry and Nora.

"Good," said Ron, then he stalked off towards the nearest door and opened it. He closed it again after having peered inside. "Nothing. Completely empty," he said and then opened the next door. The other four walked towards a door, too, and tried to see if there were any hidden passages. When all the doors had been done they walked into an even larger corridor, lit by floating white candles, though there were hardly any doors here.

"We'll be done here in no time," said Ron happily and he bounded off to the nearest door. The others trudged towards a different door, but again every room was empty.

"Next hall, then," said Harry and he and Ron entered the hall that intersected with the corridor they were in now. Nora, Hermione and Draco followed them and their ideas were the same: the halls seemed to become more and more splendid with less and less doors. The three walked over to Harry and Ron who were gaping at a large door surrounded by gold. Suddenly the floor shook and all five were knocked off of their feet. When the trembling stopped they scrambled back up.

"That was peculiar," said Ron as he brushed dust off his pants. The others murmured their agreements except Hermione who was looking in the direction where the entrance to this hall had been.

"What?" exclaimed Harry, Nora, Ron and Draco when they realised they were trapped. Hermione turned to look at them.

"That door is the only chance we have to get out of this," she said. The others said nothing. What if they were stuck here forever? Would Dumbledore be able to find and rescue them? To make matters worse there was a dull rumbling and the walls slowly started closing in on each other.

"No!" shouted Ron. "I'm claustrophobic!"

"Really?" asked Harry. He had never known this.

"Not that much, just a little bit. It was more an attempt to make the walls stop moving," replied Ron stupidly as the walls came nearer and nearer.

"Come on, we have no choice but to enter that room!" shouted Hermione and she bolted towards the door, the others right on her tail. Draco, the last one in, slammed the door shut and looked around the room. It was empty, too.

"There's no door here, we're stuck," whispered Hermione, her voice trembling. The five spread themselves out automatically over the large room, trying to find a secret lever of some sort. The room, dark and grayish, was only lit by several candles, one that floated lonesome in the air in the middle of the room and the others each in a different corner. Even though there was little light, the students could see everything quite clearly.

Harry walked to the wall that was opposite to the one where the door was. Slowly something materialized a good way ahead of him. Harry couldn't see what it was from such a distance but as he walked towards it, it looked like some sort of archway with two people standing in front of it. He walked even closer and realised it was Sirius dueling Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry ran forward, if only he could warn Sirius before Bellatrix said the curse that killed him. Harry was only a few feet away from the veil when he ran headlong into an invisible barrier of some sort. He was taken aback at first and slowly put a hand on it. It was really there.

"Sirius!" Harry shouted while banging on the invisible wall. "SIRIUS!" He was desperate to warn Sirius, but his godfather took no notice of him and laughed at his cousin. He said something and Harry, though unable to heard it, knew perfectly well what Sirius had said. Harry turned around, frantically searching for his friends; surely they'd be able to help him? But as Harry looked around he saw that the others were, also, reliving the most horrible night of their lives.

Ron, trembling on his feet, was watching Dumbledore in his office talking to two paintings, and using a silver device from which smoke rose in the shape of a snake. Harry knew this was the night when he had seen Mr. Weasly get attacked in his fifth year. Dumbledore and his office vanished, only to be replaced by Death Eaters running through the Hogwarts corridors, shooting curses at people in front of them; it was the night the forty-seven students had been killed when the Death Eaters had entered Hogwarts. It seemed like Ron was watching this behind a barrier, too, because he stood pressed with his hands and nose against something invisible.

Hermione, looking extremely shaken, was watching Dumbledore sitting in his chair in his office. He was undoubtedly saying that her father, who was currently in Azkaban, had killed her mother. This, too, vanished and was replaced by the night Hogwarts was attacked.

Harry turned to look left and saw Nora, tears leaking from her eyes and shaking heavily, standing behind an invisible barrier, too, her hands hopelessly pressed against it. In her barrier were Parvati and Lavender, looking traumatized and saying something. Then the two girls faded and a single body, lying on the floor, replaced them. It belonged to Dean. Pure agony formed on Nora's face as she slid down onto the floor while leaning against the barrier and slamming her hand on it, wailing in pain.

Harry looked around and found Draco standing behind a barrier, too. He wondered what Draco's worst memory was. It couldn't be something about his family; Voldemort or his Death Eaters hadn't killed any of them. Sure, his father was in Azkaban but Draco had never liked him. Harry craned his neck and saw Voldemort standing there; looking down on someone kneeled on the floor. He saw the snakelike man grinning evilly, saying something. Then Voldemort raised his wand, muttered a curse and a flash of bright green light later the person that had been kneeling in front of him was laying dead on the floor. Harry saw Draco give an involuntary sob and Harry, after craning his neck again, saw that the person dead in front of Voldemort was a little girl, no older than nine or ten.

Harry, full of sorrow and grief, turned to Sirius again. It seemed like time in the screened-off area had stopped, because when Harry watched again Sirius was just starting to fall into the veil. Harry banged on the barrier with his fists, but it didn't help. Then, as slowly as it had formed, the veil and Bellatrix Lestrange, who was laughing, began to dematerialize. Slowly they faded and Harry was left staring at a blank wall. He quickly wiped the tears away and turned around. Nora and Hermione were sprawled on the floor, crying, Ron was standing in the middle of the room looking completely shaken and Draco was slamming his fists into a wall, shouting curses at Voldemort, who was probably somewhere, killing more people and destroying more families, or gloating about it.

Harry looked in a different direction, unable to see his friends in such anguish. His mind was racing, his blood boiling. Every little bit of hatred he had had since those students, Sirius, Cedric and his parents had been killed, was flooding back to him and it felt like he was torn apart. Harry knew that his parents' and Sirius' death and that of Dean, Hermione's mother, the little girl Draco had cared so much about was all because of Voldemort. Voldemort had torn millions of families apart, killed innumerable Muggles and Muggle-borns, just because he wanted to be the most powerful wizard in the world. Harry shook his head slightly and noticed a door had appeared. It was as large as the one they had come through and looked as magnificent. Though he was unwilling to disturb the mourning of his friends he called out to them anyway. Ron was beside him the fastest, then Draco, who looked like he could kill, and then Nora and Hermione who were supporting each other.

"Should we risk it?" asked Harry. Ron shrugged. The others said nothing.

"I guess," replied Ron gloomily. Harry reached for the door handle and slowly opened the door. To his relief he was peering into the Entrance Hall. Hermione's plan had worked after all, though he'd have preferred to go the long way around and skip the 'Relive-Your-Worst-Night-Again' room. Harry walked into the Entrance Hall closely followed by the others. They had only entered it for about a second when Dumbledore appeared.

"Ah, you have made it," he said, not looking as cheerful as he usually did. "Though you seem to have found the 'Room of Doom'."

* * *

_A/N_: Good chapter? Again, sorry for taking so long. Terribly sorry. 


	30. Nymphirah

_A/N_: Alright, because I made you wait so long for chapter 29, I thought I'd write this chapter right after I posted the previous one. And I finished it in one day! Mind you, it's not posted right away because I always reread my chapters and spell check them for any mistakes, but I didn't have any time to!

First of all: I was loaded with homework.

Second: I had to write this eight to ten page essay with my partner, Linda, but she fell on her tailbone, got a concussion and I had to write it on my own in three days, two of them school days and she had half the information but wasn't allowed to come to school and unable to give them to me! (she lives about one and a half hours away BY TRAIN, so I couldn't just go to her house and ask for them.)

Third: I had to write a book report in class when I hadn't even read the book yet! it was hell but we were allowed to take it home and finish it if we hadn't finished it then. I still haven't read the book fully, hehe, but I'm going to take care of all that in the winter vacation which starts day after tomorrow!

Fourth and last of all: My end of term exams are right after vacation ends so I was already busy revising some subjects. But enough babble! I won't keep you even longer. CARRY ON (ahem):

**Chapter 30: Nymphirah**

"Room of Doom?" repeated Harry, bewildered.

"Why, yes," said Dumbledore softly. "You see, anyone who enters that room is forced to relive the worst day of their life from a distance and are given the hope that they can change the past and, for example, save the one they love, if they can just get past the invisible barrier, which is impossible. This affects the person's sanity so immensely that they begin a second mourning process after having viewed their worst day again. Though, the longer you stay there and mourn, the harder it is to escape the grip of death and eventually you're lost forever and you die a slow and painful death; the guilty feeling, that has been growing larger and larger ever since you have failed to save the person you loved for the second time, eats you alive from the inside," explained Dumbledore. Harry was speechless for a moment, but then a question entered his mind.

"How come we weren't disaster-prone and forced to die a slow and painful death?" He asked his headmaster. The five students watched intently. Yes, why had they been able to get out of the room? Why weren't they being 'eaten alive'? The old man smiled.

"That would probably because of you, Harry," he said.

"Me?"

"I suppose you saw Sirius fall through the veil again?" Asked Dumbledore softly. Harry nodded, a lump had formed in his throat, thwarting him to speak. "That has happened almost a year ago and you have overcome most of your anguish by now, which is why the Room of Doom did not affect you as much: you were able to think clearly. Now, with the others," said Dumbledore and he turned to look at Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco, "their worst day has happened only a few months ago and it is still freshly imprinted in their minds. They were affected incalculably and most certainly would've been lost if you hadn't been there to stimulate them and get them going again." He paused for a few seconds and hen changed the topic. "Now, shall we have some dinner? I daresay you five look like you could use a good bite to eat." And with that Dumbledore led them into the dining room where dinner was already waiting for them, steam rising from the food into the air. The six of them took their standard seats. "You may begin," said Dumbledore when he noticed that the five students were looking at him, waiting for a sign. Immediately they piled food on their plates and began a scrumptious dinner. Dumbledore was the only one that seemed to take his time. Compared to the others he was moving in slow motion.

"This is good," murmured Ron as he slowly chewed on a piece of steak, savoring its flavor.

"Delicious," agreed Harry. It was then that he noticed Dumbledore was watching them intently. Harry nudged Ron.

"What?" He asked, annoyed that he'd been ripped out of his dreamy state.

"Dumbledore," whispered Harry. Ron cast a glance at his Headmaster and nearly dropped his fork.

"Scary," he whispered back. Harry nodded. It was quite odd that their Headmaster was staring so intently at them, yet there was a very distant look in his eyes. Slowly Harry and Ron returned to their food, surely Dumbledore didn't want to be disturbed right now, and therefore nearly fell out of their seats when there was a clear "ahem" throat clearing coming from their Headmaster's direction. Harry and Ron turned their heads slowly in the direction of the old man who was still looking as fixedly as ever.

"I am terribly sorry to interrupt your dinner," began Dumbledore, the distant look in his eyes replaced by his ever familiar twinkle. "But I must know what each of you saw in the Room of Doom. It might be useful for training. Harry's worst day I already know: Sirius battling his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, and falling into the veil. Ron?" asked Dumbledore. Ron swallowed his food and cleared his voice.

"Erm… I saw Harry waking up and vomiting over the side of his bed, spluttering that my father had been attacked by a giant snake. Then the setting changed and I saw you sitting behind your desk in Hogwarts with that silver instrument that had smoke coming out of it in the form of a serpent… er… then that was replaced by the Hogwarts corridors with Death Eaters running through them, chasing us. That was the night Hogwarts had been attacked," finished Ron, feeling a bit awkward. He felt that his worst days weren't as bad as Harry's, who had lost the closest thing he had ever had as a parent, whereas he, Ron, still had both of his parents and all of his brothers and Ginny. He was quite sure that his worst days were nothing compared to that of the others.

"Yes, I assumed those two had been your most dreadful nights. Nora?" said Dumbledore.

"Oh… erm…" Nora looked completely shocked as she turned her gaze towards her food. She didn't know why, but she felt like the others were a bit sick of her crying all the time about Dean. "I saw Parvati and Lavender, and they were talking… and then they vanished and… er… Dean's corpse replaced them," she said in a trembling voice, almost expecting to hear a voice say: "Not again. I think she's just doing it for the attention."

"Yes… yes… Hermione?" said Dumbledore.

"I saw you sitting behind your desk, telling me my father had killed my mother and that he was currently in Azkaban. Then it was replaced by the night Hogwarts had been attacked," said Hermione. It was still fresh in her mind and she tried hard not to think of the fact that her mother would never return to her again.

"Yes, of course. Draco?" Everyone turned to look at him in interest, for no one knew what his worst day had been. They had known each other's most dreadful hours, of course, but not Draco's, and therefore they were all rather curious. Draco turned to look at Dumbledore, trying hard not to see the others.

"I saw Voldemort kill my little sister," he said quietly. Nora, who had been focusing hard on piling some salad on her plate, dropped the entire bowl. Hermione, who had taken a bite of salmon quiche, choked on it and Harry let his fork and knife clatter on the floor while Ron slipped sideways off of his chair. Dumbledore was the only one who did not drop whatever he was holding at the time, choke on whatever he was eating at that moment or fall off of his chair in any possible way. Instead he said:

"Ah, yes. It would've have been something of the sort… Now that you have all shared this I shall try my best to think of a way we can use it as training of some sort. Carry on eating." But no one was really in the mood to eat anymore; they were all too busy thinking about what they had been forced to relive again.

After dinner, which hadn't passed as a happy event, they all went to their rooms. Harry closed the door behind him and walked straight to Hedwig who was about to go hunting.

"I'm sorry, but you've got to make a delivery," he said, and he got a quill and some parchment. His mind was fixed upon writing a letter to Parvati, telling her how much her loved her. If there was anything he had learned from the Room of Doom it was that he should always tell the ones he loved what they meant to him, because, knowing Voldemort, they might not be around for too long. He, obviously, didn't write that in his note to Parvati because the last thing he wanted to do was scare her. "You can go hunting after she receives this letter, all right?" asked Harry. Hedwig hooted, nipped at his fingers and then took off. Harry fell onto his bedcovers, feeling exhausted.

Ron, though not knowing it, was doing exactly the same thing as Harry. He walked straight to Pigwidgeon, who was fluttering 'round and 'round the room, hooting shrilly at the idea of a delivery. Ron took out three pieces of parchment and a quill. The first letter was for Lavender, telling her how much he cared for her and hoping she was doing all right. The next note was for his parents and other family members, wishing them his love and hoping they were well, and the last note was for Ginny, who wouldn't receive the letter to his parents as she was somewhere in the world where no one could find her. He wrote his sister that he missed her and would catch up on teasing her in the summer. Ron snatched Pig out of the air and his owl hooted gleefully.

"Take this to Lavender, this one to my mum and dad and the last one to my sister, Ginny, ok?" said Ron while holding up the different letters. Pig hooted again and Ron tied the notes to his leg. He then propelled the tiny owl out of the window, hoping it had understood what he had said. Ron then sat on his bed, completely worn out.

Hermione, like Harry and Ron, had been set to thinking by the Room of Doom and she scribbled two notes, one for her father, hoping he was well, and the other for Terry, telling him she was all right and that she missed him. Because Hermione didn't have an owl she cast a charm on both pieces of parchment. They glowed yellow for a few seconds then folded themselves into little paper airplanes and flew out the window, heading for her father and Terry. Hermione sat on her bed and absentmindedly put her hand over her Amulet. She again felt different feelings flow through her that weren't hers. They belonged to either Harry, Nora, Ron or Draco and she could immediately tell which feeling belonged to which friend.

When her friends had first touched the Amulet, all of their feelings, thoughts, memories, etc. were transported into her and every time they touched the Amulet again it was updated with their most recent feelings and thoughts. Hermione sighed and, wondering if Nora and Draco would ever work it out, picked up the book that lay on her nightstand and began to read.

Nora entered her room feeling both exhausted and full of anger. She cried herself to sleep.

Draco quietly closed his bedroom door behind him and walked over to his bed where he reached under his pillow and took out a frayed picture. As usual in the wizard world the picture was moving. It showed a little girl, about ten years old, with straight, black, shoulder length hair that curved a little at the tips. The little girl was laughing happily, her bright blue eyes shining with joy. She waved at someone who stood beside the camera and wasn't visible. At the bottom of the picture was scribbled in neat cursive handwriting: _Nymphirah_. Draco, despite the way he was feeling, chuckled to himself as he remembered how his mother had come up with the name. He could hear her voice as if she were standing right beside him: "I stand by my decision. She looks exactly like the most beautiful nymph and her eyes are a brilliant sapphire blue. I want to call her Nymphirah. No, Lucius! I will not discuss this further!"

Draco shook his head slightly. How he wished his little sister could be here right now. She had always had the gift to cheer him up with her radiant smile and her brightly shining eyes, that were, as his mother had once said, not the icy blue-ish gray eyes he and his father had, but a warm blazing sapphire blue.

The Nymphirah in the picture waved again at that someone who had not been captured in the photograph but who was standing beside the photographer. Draco smiled. He was the one she had turned her gaze to, he was the one she was waving so lovingly at, he was the one that kept making her laugh… she was the one he had cared about most. Draco closed his eyes and the events of that horrible night flew through his mind.

It had been horrible. That night, on the fifth of January, he and his family had gone outside in the snow to celebrate his seventeenth birthday. They were playing merrily in the snow when Voldemort and his Death Eaters arrived. His father had invited them over. Draco was to receive the Dark Mark that night. He didn't want to, but he knew better than to refuse and get himself killed. So he followed Voldemort, his Death Eaters and his father out into a secluded area, where his mother and sister would not be able to see them.

* * *

"Your mother and sister are not to know about this. They would not understand if they found out. Kneel, Draco," said Voldemort in his cold voice. "Kneel, so you can receive the Dark Mark."

"Yes, master," said Draco, his voice dull, as he kneeled down in front of the snakelike man.

"Good, good. Now, stick out your arm, Draco," said Voldemort excitedly; his heir would soon be a Death Eater, too. Draco bent his head, turning his gaze to the floor, and held out his arm. He didn't want to receive it, he wanted to be an Auror when he finished school, he wanted to capture Death Eaters, not work with them.

"Now, this might sting a bit," Voldemort told him and then Draco felt an icy cold finger touch his arm. '_Holy mother of crap!_' he thought. He had seen other Death Eaters receive the Dark Mark and sure they had winced at the pain, but he hadn't imagined it to be this painful; it felt like his arm was being torn apart.

"ARGH!" Draco had felt like screaming but he knew he hadn't opened his mouth, but then who had? He looked up and saw Voldemort clutching his hand. Draco looked at his own arm to see if he had gotten the Dark Mark, but instead of it being black, it was… '_White?_'

"Master, are you harmed?" asked Lucius Malfoy.

"No. I am quite all right now. Well, I certainly didn't expect this and I do not know what it is, either. Draco!" shouted Voldemort and Draco gave a slight jump.

"Yes, master?" He asked, while kneeling in front of Voldemort again.

"Do you have the Dark Mark on your arm?"

"Yes, master," said Draco. It wasn't a complete lie. He did have the Dark Mark on his arm, just not in the right color. Though Draco did not know what that meant, he knew Voldemort would if he saw his Dark Mark was white, so Draco quickly hid it from view.

"Very well, then. Ah, Nagini. You have returned," said Voldemort in a hiss. The snake hissed in return.

"Yes, master." Draco's eyes widened in shock; he could hear what it was the snake was saying! He could speak Parseltongue all of a sudden! Draco looked at his Dark Mark, neatly hidden from view, then at Voldemort and then back at his Dark Mark.

"Is everything set? Will we be able to continue with our plan?" hissed Voldemort.

"Yes, master. Everything is ready." Then Nagini slithered away, weaving in and out of the Death Eaters, who cringed as she passed them.

"Well, the plan is ready, Hogwarts will be our aim and if everything goes according to plan the students will be in the Great Hall when we set the owls and Nifflers loose," said Voldemort in his high-pitched cruel voice. "What is it, Nagini?" he hissed as his snake came gliding back.

"Master, there is a little girl watching," hissed Nagini and then she slithered off again. Draco's stomach vanished for he knew the only little girl in the vicinity was Nymphirah. Draco guessed she must've followed him when he was being led to this area. She always followed him everywhere.

"What?" shouted Voldemort. He walked swiftly out of the circle of Death Eaters only to return, holding a squirming Nymphirah. "You foolish little girl. You should've known better than to follow your dear brother. Now, you shall pay," said Voldemort in a merciless cold voice. Nymphirah was kneeling in front of him, sobbing in her hands, whispering apologies, begging him to spare her life. Draco wanted to reach out, to save her, but he couldn't. "Avada Kedavra!" Draco saw the flash of bright green light, he saw Nympirah's limp body fall to the ground, saw the triumphant look on Voldemort's face, yet he only realized it a few seconds later.

"NYMPIRAH!" He shouted as he ran forward. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER? THERE WAS NO NEED! SHE WOULDN'T HAVE TOLD ANYONE! THERE WAS NO NEED!" Yelled Draco at Voldemort, while hugging the limp form of his sister. "There was no need!"

"You foolish boy! No one speaks to Lord Voldemort in such manner! No one! CRUCIO!" bellowed Voldemort and next thing Draco knew, he was lying on the floor, pain searing through every inch of his body. He screamed. He screamed like he had never screamed before but it didn't relieve his pain, it intensified it instead.

* * *

Draco shot up in his bed, sweating all over, shaking terribly. He realized that he actually had been screaming, not just in his nightmare but in his bed, too. He hoped he hadn't woken anyone; he didn't need those Gryffindors hurrying in his room, pitying him for having a nightmare. Draco felt something in his hand and, looking down, he saw the picture of Nymphirah clutched tightly in his hand. Slowly he loosened his grip and then, just as slowly, he began to even the picture out, since folds had been made when he had clutched it so tightly. Nymphirah came back into her picture, having fled when it was being squished. She smiled at him and laughed again. Draco touched her cheek delicately with his index finger and then put the picture on his bedside table. He lay down again and turned to look at her. She had been so beautiful and full of life, about to start her first year at Hogwarts. Draco closed his eyes and opened them again. He could not help but think that Nymphirah's love and adoration for him had gotten her murdered. A tear trickled down his cheek, soon to be followed by another one.

* * *

"You heard it, too, though, right?" Asked Ron, watching Harry intently.

"Yeah. Wonder what his nightmare was about," he replied.

"You think it might have been about his worst day? I mean, I had nightmares about my worst two days last night, too, thanks to that 'Room of Doom'," said Ron sulkily.

"Me too. I never even knew Draco had a sister," Harry told Ron as they turned a corner, entering a red corridor lit with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

"Me neither. Weird, though. I don't think he's ever mentioned her," said Ron, deep in thought, trying to recall if Nymphira had ever been mentioned.

"No, but she's dead right? Who'd want to bring that topic up," replied Harry as they walked further down the corridor.

"She only died during the past year. I mean, wouldn't he have mentioned her once?" asked Ron, still in deep thought.

"I dunno. Say, didn't we turn a wrong corner somewhere?" Asked Harry, looking around.

"Er… I think so," replied Ron, looking around too.

"What's that?" said Harry as he pointed to a large door surrounded by gold ahead of them.

"If it's another Room of Doom, I'll scream. Seriously, I will," Ron threatened menacingly.

"Should we check?" questioned Harry as he took a step forward.

"Let's not," replied Ron and he turned around but, like the previous day, there seemed to be no other way out, though today there had been no rumbling or motions that knocked them off their feet.

"We don't really have a choice."

"I see that. You go first," said Ron and he gave Harry a little nudge. Harry walked forward slowly and cautiously opened the large door. He poked his head inside and then opened the door more widely so both he and Ron could enter the large, brightly lit, gold colored room.

"This certainly is the exact opposite of the Room of Doom, isn't it?" said Harry as he walked forward a bit more. Something seemed to materialize in the middle of the room, just as it had happened the previous day.

"What's that?" asked Ron as he stood next to Harry, squinting at the materializing things.

"I dunno. Should we go forward and see?" But Harry didn't wait for an answer from Ron, instead he walked straight towards what seemed to be a large meadow with a bunch of people in it. Again, Harry was stopped by some sort of an invisible barrier. Ron stood still next to him.

"Is that Voldemort?" He asked, pointing to a tall figure dressed in a black cloak.

"Yeah, I think so… wait a minute… is that you?" Exclaimed Harry, pointing to a red headed figure holding his wand in front of him and looking exactly like Ron. Slowly everything became more and more clearer and larger.

"Yes, yes it is! And that's you! And there's Nora, and Hermione's over there and Draco's there!" shouted Ron., though not loud enough to completely deafen Harry. "And we're all fighting Death Eaters! Wait, except you… where are you going?"

"Beats me. Hey, Draco's coming with me," said Harry as he watched himself and Draco walking over to Voldemort, who looked petrified. "Maybe we're going to finish him off," Harry added hopefully.

"I hope so. Oh, look! I just sent a Death Eater flying across the meadow. Ha, he's completely knocked out. Look! There goes another one!" shouted Ron happily.

"Wait, me and Draco are now both dueling Voldemort. This looks like a battle. And there's Dumbledore with the rest of the Order."

"Look! There goes another one!" shouted Ron, not at all listening to Harry.

"Hmm… this looks like the final battle… maybe this is the exact opposite of the Room of Doom? Let's go, Ron." And with that Harry seized Ron by the arm and dragged him out of a large door that had appeared. Amazingly they found themselves in the hallway with their rooms. Nora and Hermione were banging on their bedroom doors, yelling at them to wake up.

"Wait, Harry? Ron?" Asked Hermione as she turned to look at them, at the closed door and back at them again. "No wonder you guys don't answer. Nora, you can stop now, they're not in there." Nora turned around, bewildered.

"What? How come you're not asleep?" she asked.

"We woke up a bit earlier." Both girls looked at them skeptically. "But, come, we've got something to show you," said Harry and he motioned for the two girls to follow them. As they walked by Draco's door it opened and Draco walked out looking terrible: his hair was not combed and was a complete mess, his eyes were bloodshot en puffy, his face a bit tearstained and he looked paler than they'd ever seen before.

"Good morning," said Ron brightly.

"I wish," replied Draco sourly and then he slumped on the ground, resting his arms on his knees. They all averted their eyes, feeling quite uncomfortable.

"Let's go, then," said Ron quietly after a few seconds and Nora and Hermione followed him without saying another word. Harry stayed behind and surveyed Draco. After a while he spoke up.

"Come, I've got something to show you," he said quietly. Draco turned his gaze to him, looking at him in disbelief. Harry said nothing but he held out his hand for Draco to take. In the few seconds that Draco hesitated both had a flashback that dated to their first year on the Hogwarts Express, when Draco had held his hand out for Harry to shake, but the black-haired boy had refused. Draco gazed at Harry and then took his hand. A flash of bright white light shone from the both of them and then disappeared as suddenly as it had come. Harry helped Draco up, completely confused as to what had just happened. He looked at Draco for an answer but the pale boy just shrugged.

"What is it you have to show me, then?" he asked, trying to sound casual, though his voice was still a bit hoarse.

"Follow me," replied Harry and he walked down the hallway, Draco right behind him, heading towards the room he and Ron had just found. Harry was sure this room would help Draco the most; he had been most affected by the Room of Doom. Harry walked into the spectacular corridor with its brilliant chandeliers and found Nora, Hermione and Ron waiting impatiently in front of the door.

"There you are!" said Ron, while jumping up and down. "I thought you got lost or something. Hurry up, I wanna see it again!"

"See what?" asked Hermione as she looked at the two guys, but no one responded her question. Instead Ron opened the door and walked in, followed by the others. First nothing happened, then, like last time, the battle scene began to materialize in front of them, showing little people running around, growing larger and more clear by the second. When the picture was as clear as it could get and large enough for them to see everything it stopped growing and showed them what it had shown Harry and Ron before.

"Wow," whispered Hermione and Nora nodded, watching everything intently. Draco stood silently to the side and watched everything with angst in his eyes.

"Look!" shouted Ron, though it was only a bit louder than he normally spoke, "There's me, and look, there goes another Death Eater!" For battling Ron had just sent a fifth Death Eater flying across the meadow. The other's were watching their own character until all the Death Eaters had been knocked out and captured by the Order of the Phoenix. Now it was just Harry and Draco left, both fighting Voldemort, who wasn't looking his usual powerful self. At long last both of the boys both sent the killing curse at Voldie and he uttered one last shriek, audible for them to hear, before he fell to the ground, completely dead, for if hardly anyone can survive one killing curse, no one can survive two.

The five students were all smiling happily, feeling completely cheerful and high spirited and they were about to turn and leave through the second door, when something caught their attention. A white figure was sprinting across the meadow towards battle Draco, who looked at the pearly shape in disbelief. Battle Draco said something but it was too soft for anyone to hear. As the translucent figure got nearer and nearer it became clearer and clearer who it was. Eventually battle Draco began sprinting towards it, his battle friends following behind, though not as fast. When the two reached each other battle Draco picked the pearly figure up in his arms and spun it/him/her around. The translucent form giggled happily and the real Harry, Nora, Hermione and Ron could hear the real Draco, who was now glued to the invisible barrier, whispering: "Nymphirah."

Slowly Nora, Hermione and Ron walked towards the second door and Harry dragged Draco away from the scene with Nymphirah and over the threshold. The five found themselves in the Entrance Hall and Harry and Ron looked at each other in disbelief.

"What?" asked Nora and Hermione together, seeing the looks on their faces. Ron replied, because Harry was too busy setting Draco on his feet.

"It's just, last time when we exited that room we found ourselves in the corridor outside our bedrooms. This place sure transports you every which way, doesn't it?" He finished, looking around. Dumbledore appeared in front of them and Ron gave a slight jump in fright.

"I see that you are all well," said Dumbledore. He smiled at them all, looking proud. "I knew that once you five had stumbled across the Room of Doom, it would only be a matter of time before you'd come across the Room of Hope."

* * *

_A/N_: Yay, another chapter! And finished in one day, too! I feel quite proud, thank you very much. (Though you are reading this days after I wrote it, thanks to those four points I listed at the beginning of this chapter.)

**Athenakitty**: I hope you don't mind me using you idea about there being a Room of Hope. Thank you for Reading and Reviewing, I really appreciate it.


	31. More Training

**Chapter 31: More Training**

"Room of Hope?" repeated Harry. Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes. The Room of Hope is the exact opposite of the Room of Doom. It shows the viewer what he wishes the most, therefore making him believe that his wish is possible and that it will occur in that exact same way as shown. Thus that room is also quite dangerous."

"Why?" asked Ron.

"Because it makes the viewer believe he does not have to prepare himself for what he wishes the most. He assumes his most significant wish will just come to him one day and that all he has to do is just wait for it. Many, many people have lost lives, loved ones and/or sanity this way," explained Dumbledore. A pained look was hidden in his eyes and for the first time since first year Harry wondered what his Headmaster desired the most and if he had once lost it.

"Isn't there anything safe in this castle!" bellowed Hermione, taking everybody aback and shaking Harry from his thoughts. Everyone looked at her and Hermione blushed. "Sorry," she mumbled while examining her shoes.

"Well, the dining room is quite safe," began Dumbledore. "Shall we go and have breakfast, then? I daresay a good breakfast is the foundation of a good day," he said happily and then entered the dining room. The five students followed him and Harry wondered if the pained expression in Dumbledore's eyes had just been a figment of his own imagination. Dumbledore seemed quite all right now; surely he wasn't feeling horrible if he was looking so content at the moment? '_Unless he took acting classes somewhere along the way,_' thought Harry as he seated himself between Ron and Draco. All kinds of food appeared in front of them and they piled their plates hungrily.

"Again, my mind is very curious to know what it was that you saw in the Room of Hope," said Dumbledore and he looked at them intently.

"We were fighting Death Eaters," began Ron after he had swallowed his food. He went on excitedly. "I sent about three of them flying across the meadow and they were all knocked unconscious and then one of them tried to sneak up on me but I turned around and slammed him into anoth- What?" He asked when Harry cleared his throat for the third time. Harry looked at his friend in the most innocent way he could and said:

"What? Nothing. I was just clearing my throat a bit."

"Oh, okay then," said Ron and he was about to begin his story again when Harry cut in front of him.

"They were fighting Death Eaters with the Order like Ron said and I was battling against Voldemort," he said, ignoring Ron who had winced as always.

"Surely Draco was battling Voldemort with you?" asked Dumbledore, he, too, ignoring Ron's wince. Draco looked up from his food. Why was he supposed to be fighting Voldemort?

"Yes," said Harry, a bit embarrassed he had forgotten Draco. "Yes, Draco fought against Voldemort, too."

"I thought so. I would have been more worried if he hadn't," Dumbledore told them. Draco still looked highly confused but he had completely forgotten to hide it. Dumbledore expected him to battle against Voldemort with Harry? "Harry, you look troubled, is there anything you want to ask?" questioned Dumbledore, seeing Harry's struggling look. Harry looked at his Headmaster and hesitated. There was a question that had been burning inside him for a long time, but he had thought it a bit egocentric to ask. Harry saw Dumbledore watching him and knew he couldn't lie himself out of this one, they'd have noticed something was bothering him by now, so Harry cleared his throat and said:

"Erm… well, there is one question…"

"Yes?" asked Dumbledore as he took another bite of his breakfast.

"Well… I was wondering… the prophecy said that: '_either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives_' so that means that I must either kill Voldemort or be killed. But you never said anything about four others helping me to defeat him. You said I was the only one that could," said Harry. His friends were watching him intently. None of them had ever heard the Prophecy. They had all thought it had gone lost when the little glass sphere shattered on those steps in front of the veil and Harry had never told them he had heard.

"True. True," said Dumbledore, nodding. "But you see, Harry, there are many, many prophecy's kept in the Hall of Prophecy and I only knew the one that I had heard Sybil Trelawny make. Naturally, when summer vacation started, I went to the Hall of Prophecy and asked for every prophecy that contained a Hogwarts student. When it was found I demanded to listen to it and Fudge finally gave in, after a long time of contradicting me. This prophecy, made even before yours, contained three others that would be fated, just like you," said Dumbledore and he began rummaging in his pockets. His face lit up and he pulled a small silver cube from his inside pocket. "Engorgio," he said and the small cube grew until it represented a large stone basin, with symbols engraved in the sides, that Harry had seen before. It was Dumbledore's pensieve.

"Erm… Sir?" asked Ron as he watched Dumbledore extract a silver string of substance from his temple.

"Yes?" replied Dumbledore as he put the substance into the swirling liquid/gas substance in the pensieve.

"What's that?" asked Ron.

"This is my pensieve," replied Dumbledore, but Ron still looked as confused as before. "It contains memories of mine that I have put in there. I will show you my memory of when I saw the prophecy in the Hall of Prophecy that contained the three others," he said and then he prodded the silver substance. A figure rose out of it, draped in shawls, her eyes magnified to abnormal large sizes behind her thick glasses. It was Trelawny, but when she spoke her mystic voice was replaced by a harsh one Harry had heard twice before. Once in his third year in her classroom and once last year in Dumbledore's office.

"Three will soon approach, born in different times of the year… one be Muggle-born, one Muggle-born parents and the last be pureblood… though these differences may be distinct all three will have one thing mutual… they will be fated with responsibility to help the one who soon approaches with power to vanquish the Dark Lord… the three soon to come will possess their own gift of force and the power of the four will attract each other, thwarting them to ever separate eternally… when final battle comes near the three will accompany the one with power to vanquish the Dark Lord and there will be a feast not forlorn… the three with powers to help the one who is fated to defeat the Dark Lord will soon be born."

There was an uncomfortable silence after they had heard the Prophecy and they just sat in stillness and watched as the translucent Trelawny went back into the pensieve and Dumbledore shrunk it into the small cube and put it back in his inside pocket. Harry's burning question had been answered, but a lot of new ones had replaced it. He looked at Ron, who looked a bit more up to date but still had a confused look on his face. Harry saw Ron raise his hand and he looked at Dumbledore.

"Yes, Ron?" asked their Headmaster.

"Well, the Prophecy says that one of the three will be Muggle-born, that'll be Hermione, one will have Muggle-born parents, that's Nora, but the third one will be a pureblood," began Ron. Dumbledore nodded and Harry looked at his friend, he didn't understand where this question was going, didn't Ron know that he was the pureblood?

"Yes," said Dumbledore.

"Well, is that pureblood me… or Draco?" asked Ron. Harry felt embarrassed for the second time that breakfast; he had forgotten Draco once again.

"That would be you, Ron," said Dumbledore.

"Then what's Draco doing here?"

"Well, you see, Harry here is not the only one in this room that had Voldemort's powers transferred into him," explained Dumbledore. Harry glanced at Draco and saw that he was, unconsciously, rubbing the spot on his left arm where the Dark Mark would be. But Harry couldn't remember ever seeing a Dark Mark on Draco's arm and he couldn't find a reason why Draco would have one. Hadn't he once said that he didn't want to become a Death Eater and instead wanted to be an Auror?

"How?" asked Hermione

"Well I believe it happened on your birthday, Draco?" asked Dumbledore, watching Draco with a look of concern. Draco nodded. "Ah, then I think I know the story. I believe that Voldemort tried to give you the Dark Mark on your birthday, but because you are on the side of good instead of evil the Dark Mark backfired and again Voldemort's powers were transferred into someone else, though slightly minor than on the day it had happened to Harry. Draco's Dark Mark became white, instead of black, but Voldemort kept his body and was still as strong as he was before. Though this was a good thing for our side, it did not come without another loss. I'm terribly sorry, Draco, about Nymphirah," said Dumbledore solemnly. Draco nodded and played with his food avoiding eye contact with the others.

"So… the Prophecy speaks of three who will be born, that would be me, Nora and Ron, and we have a special gift of force and with that we're supposed to help Harry defeat Voldemort?" asked Hermione

"Correct," replied Dumbledore, smiling at his cleverest student.

"But what does it mean: _the power of the four will attract each other, thwarting them to ever separate eternally_," questioned Hermione

"It means that your power attracts the power of the others, which is why you four are always inseparable, even though there may have been a few quarrels and disagreements," explained Dumbledore. "Now, Draco," he continued. Draco looked up, wondering what Dumbledore was going to say. "Draco was a slight mistake, but it is most fortunate for our side, for now we have two who have the power to defeat Voldemort instead of one. Of course, you five are still far from being able to fight Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort correctly so I suggest we finish breakfast and head outside to the Quidditch Pitch for some more training." Harry, Ron and Draco's face lit up and they were already standing beside their chairs, waiting eagerly for training to start. How boring could training be if they were on broomsticks, right?

"I see you three are already finished," said Dumbledore, smiling, as he got up himself. Harry, Ron and Draco nodded, eyeing Hermione and Nora, urging them to hurry up and finish their breakfast. Nora sighed, inwardly smiling a little at the boyish behavior of the three. She put down her knife, fork and napkin and then got up, too. It was no use trying to finish breakfast now with them hurrying her up. Hermione admitted defeat, too, and took one last sip of orange juice before getting up, too.

"Good," said Ron and he looked at Dumbledore eagerly.

"Let us go, then," said their Headmaster and they walked out of the dining room and into the Entrance Hall. Dumbledore opened the front doors and walked outside, the five students following him. Harry stepped outside with Ron and Draco and looked up to check the weather. It was a bit unnecessary because he didn't really need anymore proof that there was a very strong wind when he was nearly blown off his feet. The sun was nowhere to be seen since dark thunderous clouds threatening to rain any second, hid it.

"Ah, the weather couldn't have been perfect," said Dumbledore as he led them to the Quidditch Pitch. Harry looked at his Headmaster in disbelief, a bit concerned that he had not heard a single note of sarcasm. A roll of thunder could be heard high above them and Harry could see Nora and Hermione walking unsteadily a little in front of him due to the wind. They entered the warm changing room and Dumbledore gave them their brooms. All four, Harry, Nora, Ron and Draco, had Firebolts and they looked at Hermione, wondering if she would get a broom, too, since she had never flown in her life and avoided the Quidditch Pitch at al times unless there was a match. This was probably why she started protesting when Dumbledore handed her a Firebolt, too.

"I-I'm sorry, sir, but I don't fly. I-I don't know how to," she stammered, but Dumbledore just smiled and gave her the broom.

"That's quite all right. We'll teach you," and with that he grabbed his own Firebolt and led them out onto the Quidditch Pitch. Harry thanked Merlin that it wasn't raining. A few green leaves flew by, ripped off of their trees by the strong wind. "Now, for this training we will start out with a few warm up laps. Then the Quaffle will be passed around to warm up our reflexes a little and the main part of training: dodging the Bludgers that will be sent after you," said Dumbledore loudly, trying to make himself heard over the rumbling overhead and the whistling of the wind. Hermione gulped, clasping her broomstick so tightly her knuckles were white.

"Don't worry, Hermione. We'll help you," said Nora, comforting her friend. "It's really not hard at all." Hermione smiled at her.

"Thanks."

"Mount your brooms!" said Dumbledore. Everyone got on his or her broomstick with ease, except for Hermione, who was having a bit of trouble. Nora jumped off her Firebolt and helped Hermione get on her broomstick before mounting hers again. A high-pitched whistle sounded and they all kicked off, zooming straight into the air, the cold hard wind rushing through their hair and stinging their faces a little. Nora looked down to find Hermione still on the ground. Shaking her head slightly she zoomed downwards again, coming to Hermione's aid.

"Hermione, you're supposed to kick off in order to fly," she explained.

"Oh, right," said Hermione, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Erm… how do you do that?" Nora chuckled and showed her helpless friend how to kick off. She watched as Hermione was finally airborne but accidentally did a backwards loop and Nora had to rush forward to calm Hermione down, while the poor girl clung to her broomstick with all her might.

"Hermione, calm down. It's real easy to control your broomstick. It's not hard at all," said Nora, trying hard not to laugh. Harry, Ron and Draco were already zooming around the Pitch, racing each other. They were nothing but blurs of color. "All you have to do is steer very slightly. You don't have to pull just to go upwards, or push to go downwards. You just lean in one direction the slightest bit and you're already flying off that way," explained Nora. She then continued teaching Hermione, while the guys kept racing and showing off all the spectacular dives they knew, and within the hour Hermione could fly all by herself. Nora watched proudly and then decided to join the guys and warm up a little bit, too.

"Oi, Nora!" shouted Ron as he stopped in midair beside her. "Care to join us?" He asked. She nodded and flew off to the far end of the Quidditch Pitch where Harry and Draco were waiting for them.

"On three we go to the other side of the Pitch and whoever gets there first wins, ok?" said Harry. Nora, Ron and Draco nodded. "Right. One… two… THREE!" He shouted and then they were off. Hermione, who was still getting used to her broom, watched them in aw as four blurs sped towards the other side. A whistle blew and the five of them sped towards the middle where Dumbledore waited in mid air for them holding a wooden crate that contained the Quidditch balls.

"Now, you'll pass the Quaffle to each other as fast as you can and train your reflexes a bit," said Dumbledore as he passed the Quaffle to Draco, who caught it immediately. "Draco, you may start. I will watch." Draco passed the Quaffle to Harry, who caught it swiftly and passed it to Ron, who passed it to Hermione who almost dropped it. Hermione then passed it to Nora who passed to Ron who passed to Harry and so on and so on. The Quaffle was passed around the group for about half an hour and only a few times was it dropped… by Hermione. Dumbledore circled around them all the while, watching their reflexes and skills. After half an hour he blew his whistle and the five stopped and turned to look at him, constantly hovering in midair on their brooms. Nora held the Quaffle under her arm as she watched Dumbledore.

"Now that you have warmed up a bit I will start hitting Bludgers towards you. The Bludgers will replace actual curses and spells. Your task is to dodge these Bludgers in any way possible; it doesn't matter how you avoid them as long as you don't get hit. All right, begin flying," said Dumbledore. Nora gave him the Quaffle she had been holding and then flew off behind the others. She heard the high whistling of a Bludger… or was it the wind? Whatever the case was, she didn't bother to check but gave a hard tug on her broomstick and she rolled a couple of times in midair to the left. Hermione watched her friend in aw as she dodged the Bludger spectacularly. She then saw Harry doing a backward flip as he, too, got out of the way of the Bludger Dumbledore had sent after him. Hermione looked to the left and saw a Bludger hurtling towards her. She gave a shriek and then did the Sloth Grip Roll without meaning to.

Ron, who had stopped to look why Hermione had shrieked, would've gotten a Bludger right in the nose if he hadn't let go of his broom with his hands and leaned backwards so that his back touched his Firebolt, while his face was screwed up in pain. After the Bludger whizzed over him, missing him by a few inches, Ron sat back upright again, grimacing and rubbing his back which was aching thanks to the excruciating, yet amazing, move he had made. Draco seemed to be more sensible; he was intently watching every Bludger sent towards him and moving just a few inches to the left or right instead of making any radical moves. And unfortunately, during the first part of training, the five students kept being blown off course by the vigorous wind, making it harder to calculate every dodge they were to make.

Hermione, though still not quite as good as the others, seemed to be improving quickly and had soon stopped shrieking every time a Bludger approached her. Gradually more and more balls were shot at the five students and after a while they weren't able to rest after just having dodged one but were forced to spectacularly avoid another one heading right towards them. Even Draco, who had been the only one able to avoid Bludgers in simple ways, wasn't able to stick to his simple plan in moving out of the way and was forced to make very extravagant moves causing him to get slightly dizzy from all of the rolls and twists he was making. Harry felt, while doing yet another impressive back flip, that this training against Voldemort and his Death Eaters might've looked more like training for the circus to an outsider.

_See the stone set in your eyes_

_See the thorn twist in your side_

_I wait for you_

_Sleight of hand and twist of fate_

_On a bed of nails she makes me wait_

_And I wait without you_

The wind had finally died down during the last part of training and the dark overcast clouds had long since moved away when Dumbledore's shrill whistle could be heard for the third time that day. The five students gathered around him, all sweating, their clothes sticking to their bodies, and all out of breath.

_With or without you_

_With or without you_

_Through the storm we reach the shore_

_You give it all but I want more_

_And I'm waiting for you_

"You did well, all of you, and I'm proud to say that you're improvement is very great," began Dumbledore. He looked at his watch, which consisted of the sun, all of the planets and a few knobs and dials. Harry had no idea how one could ever get the time from that, but obviously Dumbledore was one immensely clever man, which Harry already knew, because, after one quick glance at his watch, he said: "It is two o'clock now, and I daresay you all want a break, so do whatever you feel like for the rest of the day." All five students cheered and then they raced each other towards the ground. They entered the changing room, put away their Firebolts and then stood there, looking around. After five minutes of silence in which the students tried to figure out what to do, Harry, Ron and Draco picked up their Firebolts again and sprinted back into the Quidditch Pitch. Both Nora and Hermione rolled their eyes.

_With or without you_

_With or without you_

_I can't live_

_With or without you_

_And you give yourself away_

_And you give yourself away_

_And you give_

_And you give_

_And you give yourself away_

"Spring in the forest?" Asked Hermione.

"Come again?" asked Nora, looking at her friend.

"I said: spring in the forest. Should we go there? Have a little swim? The weather's cleared up now, so it'll be a nice refreshment," explained Hermione.

"Oooh. Yeah, all right," said Nora and the two walked out of the changing room and made their way to the forest. Though Nora's mind had been free of the anger that had filled her the last few days for a couple of hours while she was in the air, it slowly returned to her and she didn't like it. Trying to take her mind off of it she asked: "So, how do you like flying?"

_My hands are tied_

_My body bruised, she's got me with_

_Nothing to win and_

_Nothing left to lose_

"It's quite all right. I never thought it could be so fun, actually," said Hermione, smiling.

"I knew you'd like it once you tried it, but back in Hogwarts I wouldn't have been able to get you on a broom even if I gave you a thousand Galleons," said Nora as they entered the forest, weaving through the trees.

"Yes, well, this was for training so I had no choice," replied Hermione and she stopped still for a second.

"What?" asked Nora as she, too, stood still, again letting her mind become clouded by anger.

_And you give yourself away_

_And you give yourself away_

_And you give_

_And you give_

_And you give yourself away_

"Just listening for the water pool," replied Hermione as she began walking again. She walked around a large bush behind which the small lake of clear water was concealed. Nora followed her and was a bit surprised of the beauty of it, having forgotten what it looked like since the last time they had went. Hermione sat on the sand and put her bare feet in the water. Nora sat down beside her, copying her. The water felt refreshingly cool against their feet and they lay down and closed their eyes, lying in the warm sun in comfortable silence, until:

"Why are you so mad at him?" asked Hermione as she turned her head towards Nora.

"Mad at who?" questioned Nora, while staring fixedly at the light blue sky above her, knowing perfectly well who Hermione was talking about. Hermione seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"You know who I'm talking about," she replied. Nora sat up and sighed, gazing at the waterfall.

_With or without you_

_With or without you_

_I can't live_

_With or without you_

"I'm not mad at him," she replied after a while. "I'm mad at myself."

_With or without you_

_With or without you_

_I can't live_

_With or without you_

_With or without you_

Hermione sat up, leaning on her elbows, and looked at Nora.

"You're mad at yourself? Why?" she asked, feeling utterly confused. Nora sighed again, her eyes stinging greatly as they always did when trying to stop the tears from flowing. She swallowed, took a few moments to regain her posture and then continued:

"Because… because I let him go," she replied softly, frowning in pure frustration. "Because my stubborn head had to act the exact opposite of what my heart wanted. Because… because I broke _his_ heart as well as mine." Hermione looked out over the water, too. The two sat in silence for a while, watching the water ripple as the waterfall entered it, breaking the smooth surface.

"Don't blame yourself," said Hermione after another few minutes of silence in which only the gushing of water could be heard. "Neither of you are to blame."

"I just don't understand why he wouldn't let me battle with Harry! I told him I would _even_ if he forbade me and then he'd lose me as well! Why did he have to be so stubborn?" exclaimed Nora. She heaved a sigh and then calmed down somewhat. "I just don't understand."

"I do," replied Hermione. She was concentrating hard on keeping her eyes away from Nora who was now staring at her in pure disbelief. "He was scared."

"Of what?" snapped Nora, furious that she was only being told now.

"That you'd go and do something careless and foolish," answered Hermione lightly in a casual tone mixed with fright.

"Where in heaven's name did he get that idea?" questioned Nora perplexed; she had almost never done anything reckless; having always thought things over before she acted.

"His nightmare."

"He had a nightmare?" asked Nora. Hermione nodded, finally looking her in the eyes.

"How do you know? … Did you talk to him?" Hermione shook her head. "Then how?"

"Whenever someone touches the Amulet of Era's," began Hermione slowly, her hand automatically reaching to the Amulet, checking to see if it was still there. "When someone touches it, their feelings, thoughts, etc. are 'transferred' into me. Which is how I know that he has this nightmare almost every night in which Harry gets killed by Voldemort and then, when Voldemort is planning on killing you next, you start teasing him, mocking him about not being pureblood as he wishes all wizards and witches to be. Draco's scared you'll get yourself killed." Hermione knew it was a rather… silly dream, and that things would never happen that way, yet still she was in awe of it. The two sat in silence again, the sun shining brightly above them.

"He hates me," stated Nora bluntly while splashing her feet in the cool water. "He'll never have me back. I ruined everything."

"You should worry more about acting like your old self again. Harry and Ron have been dead worried about you," said Hermione seriously and, when Nora looked at her a bit strangely, she added: "The Amulet. It transfers thoughts and feelings, remember?" Nora nodded in understanding.

"I bet I acted like a total bitch," she said softly, her head down in embarrassment. Hermione put an arm around her.

"That's 'witch', dear, not 'bitch', 'witch,'" she replied. Nora smiled as she remembered the time she had once said that exact same sentence in the Great Hall. It all seemed like a such a long time ago and she wondered how she would've reacted if someone had told her then that around fifty people, including Dean, would be killed, that they would all be sent all over the world, that she would end up dating and breaking up with Draco and that she was an important part in the defeat of Voldemort. She tried not to think of it all, and instead quickly got up, grabbed Hermione's hand and ran into the cool water, dragging Hermione with her, not bothering to change into swim suits first.

"AAAAAH!" squealed Hermione as the water engulfed her. She came back up again and saw Nora laughing. "Glad, to see you're back to normal. Now let's see how you like this," she added and then pushed Nora underneath the surface. They played in the cool water, underneath the warm sun, both girls laughing as if they hadn't laughed for an incredibly long time.

* * *

_A/N_: That's enough isn't it? I think so and I really hope you like it! The song I put in is: U2 – With or Without You

**SkinsThunderbomb** – I hope I cleared Nora's actions up a bit. Thank you for reading and reviewing. Me appreciates it. )


	32. A Load of Dreams and Nightmares

_A/N_: hmmm… I never thought I'd actually get this far with my story… I'm running out of idea's… but I'll come up with something, just so you guys can read my story, and hopefully review (hint hint) Anyway, next chapter, here it is:

**Chapter 32: A Load of Dreams and Nightmares**

Nora and Hermione were making their way back out of the forest hours later after having had millions of water fights and contests to see who could jump off the high rocks the best. Hermione won, but only because she made a huge belly flop and Nora had felt sorry for her. This was also the reason why Hermione was walking through the forest bent over, rubbing her stomach.

"Are you sure you're all right?" asked Nora for the billionth time, worried about Hermione's health.

"Fine. Just perfect," mumbled Hermione in reply, still bent over as they walked over the clearing in front of the castle.

"Are you sure? We can go see Dumbledore if you want. He'll know a spell or something to make you feel better," Nora told Hermione while rubbing her friends back, trying to make her feel a bit better.

"No need. I know a healing spell, but I don't know what happens if you perform it on yourself," said Hermione as she stopped walking. Nora stopped, too, and took out her wand.

"Well, what is it? Maybe I can help you," she said, tapping her wand impatiently in her right hand.

"You think you can do it? It may go wrong because it's the first time you try it," said Hermione worriedly.

"Oh, calm down and give me the spell. You do want to feel better, don't you? I daresay you look ridiculous walking all bent over like that," Nora told her, beginning to get agitated.

"Fine. It's: 'Alleviatio' and you flick you wrist and then jab at the person you're healing," replied Hermione while showing Nora the wand movements. Nora muttered the spell under her breath a few times and practiced the movements before actually trying it on Hermione.

"All right. Here goes nothing," she said. "Alleviatio!" Nora shouted while flicking her wrist and then jabbing her wand at Hermione. A turquoise light shot from her wand, hit Hermione and then both girls were propelled into the air and landed painfully on the ground, tangled with the other.

"Ouch," groaned Hermione as she rubbed her back, grimacing.

"Oooh," moaned Nora while rubbing her head. "At least I took your mind off of the pain in your stomach," she told Hermione.

"Oh yes," replied Hermione sardonically. "Oh yes, you certainly did. Now I've got pain in all of the rest of my body to focus on. You were a great help."

"Like you never do anything wrong, miss flawless," snapped Nora. Neither of the girls made a big effort to get up, they were aching way too much to even breathe. They heard footsteps come nearer and nearer and the two girls looked up in the grinning/smirking faces of Harry, Ron and Draco, all of whom had very suggestive looks on their faces at the sight of both girls on top of each other. Hermione and Nora rolled their eyes.

"No, we're _not_ lesbians, you horny pricks," said Nora as she struggled to get up. When she was finally standing she helped up Hermione and the two marched off towards the castle, leaving the three guys standing behind, looking slightly disappointed.

"Seriously, why do guys like it so much when two girls are… together?" asked Hermione as the reached the Entrance Hall.

"I have no idea. It's stupid. I mean, we don't start drooling whenever two guys are lying on top of each other," replied Nora.

"I know," said Hermione while checking her watch. "It's almost seven o'clock, should w-"

"Seven o'clock?" shouted Nora, while grabbing Hermione's wrist and checking for herself. "Already?"

"A-A-All right," panted Hermione as she tried to reclaim her arm. Unfortunately Nora had a pretty strong grip. "First of all, Nora: ouch!" Nora quickly let go of Hermione's arm and Hermione's face lit up as she quickly checked to see if everything was still in one piece. "Second of all: do you think I'm stupid or something? I can tell time, you know," Hermione went on, and Nora looked at her feet in embarrassment. "And third of all: you have your own watch. So next time if you don't believe me check your own timepiece first before grabbing my arm and twisting it in ways never thought possible."

"Sorry," muttered Nora.

"That's quite all right," replied Hermione while rubbing her arm. "Dinner, then?" she asked. Nora nodded and the two marched off into the empty dining room. They sat in their seats and waited for Dumbledore and the others. A few minutes later the dining room doors opened and Harry, Ron and Draco entered, not looking at Hermione and Nora. The three guys took their seats across from the girls and together they waited for their Headmaster.

"Strange," muttered Harry as he looked at Dumbledore's empty chair.

"What?" asked Ron, following Harry's gaze. The others were watching Harry, wondering what exactly was so 'strange'.

"Well, he's never late, is he? He's always been on time or earlier up until now, hasn't he?" Harry asked the whole group. His friends thought it over for a moment, trying to recall a time when Dumbledore had been late.

"He was late in our first year, remember? When you had gone to save the Philosopher's Stone?" said Ron.

"He wasn't late then, he was lured out of Hogwarts by Quirrel," replied Harry. The five thought for another few minutes, nothing jumping to mind. There was a loud pop and then a high-pitched voice, coming from the direction Dumbledore's chair. Ron looked at Dumbledore's chair in fright and pity before realizing that it was a house-elf and not Dumbledore himself.

"Excuse me, kind sirs and misses," the house-elf said. "I is Taury. Professor Dumbledore is sending Taury to tell you he will not be joining for dinner today. He is having an important meeting and you will be eating by yourselves. Food will be coming up shortly," the house-elf told them. Then she bowed and disappeared with another loud pop.

"I wonder what that important meeting is about," thought Hermione out loud.

"Probably Order of the Phoenix business," replied Harry while Ron's stomach gave a loud rumble. Just then food appeared on the table and Ron grabbed everything in sight, leaving Harry very… foodless. The others, Harry, Nora, Hermione and Draco, seemed to be a lot less hasty and they took their time while piling food on their plates and chewing slowly and thoroughly, unlike Ron who had thrown his food on his plate and was now inhaling it with disgusting slurping noises. Nora and Hermione kept shooting him revolted looks, but Ron either didn't care or was to busy devouring his food that he didn't notice.

"So how was Quidditch?" asked Hermione, trying to make conversation.

"It was brilliant," replied Harry since Ron was still to busy pigging out and Draco had just taken a large sip of water from his goblet. "We had a pretty good time. What did you do?" He asked, wondering why their hair was wet.

"Yeah, and why's your hair all wet?" asked Ron, spraying food.

"We went to this small lake in the middle of the forest," replied Hermione, while looking at Ron in disgust.

"Yeah, it was really great. Very refreshing," added Nora, while piling some salad on her plate.

"There's a lake in the forest?" asked Draco interestedly, feeling very glad Nora was beginning to be her usual self again.

"Oh yeah," Nora told the whole group, rather than just informing him. "With a waterfall and everything."

"And with large rocks you can climb on and then jump off of," added Hermione. Ron and Harry looked at her as if they'd never seen her do something 'wild' like that before. Come to think of it… they never had. "Oh, come on. I can be… boisterous." Hermione told them. Harry shook his head.

"No you can't," he told her. "And if you can, you've never been 'boisterous' before, unless you count the time that you took more classes than usual in out third year and needed a Time Turner to get to them. But that was more stupid than boisterous."

"Well, if you haven't noticed, I've changed," argued Hermione, setting down her knife and fork. "I've become a lot more rowdy than I used to be." There was a loud snort before water was sprayed all over the table.

"I-I'm sooo sorry," apologized Nora in between laughs as she tried to dry the table and Harry, who had been sitting across from her, up a bit. "Terribly sorry. But that was just hilarious!" she added as she handed Harry a napkin. Hermione huffed.

"I don't see anything funny about it," she said, while folding her arms over her chest.

"Oh please. You, rowdy? In a parallel universe… maybe. I mean, your boggart, in third year, turned into Professor McGonagall saying you'd failed some exam. Don't tell me you can be rowdy if that's you're greatest fear," said Nora. She had stopped laughing but a look of amusement was still plastered on her face.

"Well maybe I'm not as wild as you guys are, but I'm loosening up. Give me some time, will you?" Hermione told them as her cross look was replaced by a smile. Her four friends grinned.

"We'll have to wait ages until you're just as 'wild' as we are," said Harry and there was a hearty laugh from the others.

"Ha, ha, yes, very funny." Hermione told him with a sarcastic tone, but there was a playful glint in her eyes. Just then the food disappeared, only to be replaced by desert. They all piled their plates full of the delicious smelling and looking deserts, knowing they'd never be able to finish it all.

"So, how about we all go to that lake tomorrow? The five of us. Have a little fun?" asked Ron while looking eagerly at Nora and Hermione, who both rolled their eyes, muttering what sounded very much like: "men".

"Seriously," Nora whispered to Hermione as the two girls leaned nearer to each other. "Can't live with 'em, and yet they're still alive and on this planet." Hermione snickered and they continued their desert.

"Sounds like a good idea, though," said Harry. "Should we go there after training tomorrow?" The others nodded and they finished the last of their deserts before getting up and exiting the Dining Room.

"Doesn't this place have a living room, or something? You know, like the common room in Gryffindor Tower," complained Ron as he looked around, searching for a sign of some sort that might lead the way.

"Pssst," whispered someone. The five students looked around suspiciously, all pulling out their wands and holding it out in front of them, their drowsiness replaced by attentiveness. "Pssst," the person whispered again. Slowly the five began walking backwards to the middle of the Entrance Hall. Predictably they bumped into each other and all gave a scared shout and jumped into the air. When they had all landed they whirled around, pointing their wands at the others. As one they lowered their wands, feeling completely stupid. "Pssssssst!" All five wands shot into the air again as their owners scanned the Entrance Hall.

"Wait, is it you?" Draco asked, peering at a painting. Harry, Nora, Hermione and Ron, who weren't looking at what he was staring at, spun around and all said: "Of course it isn't me!" Only now could they see that Draco was moving slowly towards a painting of a young couple in the middle of a heated argument. "It _is_ you, isn't it?" asked Draco again, and the man nodded as he avoided the vase his wife had thrown at him. The others had crept closer too and together the five stared intently at the man who threw a plate at his wife.

"What is it you want to tell us?" asked Harry. Finally they young couple stopped arguing, allowing the young man to reply.

"I could not help but overhear your conversation about your search for a living room," the man began. His voice was very… classy, as were his clothes.

"Do you know where a living room is?" asked Ron hopefully. The man nodded.

"Why yes," he told them. "You see, it's very easy to find. You just walk up those stairs and at the beginning of the hallway with the fancy bedrooms there's an entrance to the living room you're allowed to use," the man explained.

"Thanks," said Harry and the others thanked him, too. When they had turned their backs on the painting to walk up the stairs they could hear the argument between the young couple starting up again and shatters could be heard, indicating the loss of several sorts of expensive china. The five reached the landing on which their bedrooms were and they walked into the hall.

"Now, he said the living room was at the beginning of the hallway, that there was an entrance," muttered Ron and he began searching. It didn't take very long before they had found it, it was immediately to their right, and they walked through the large doorway, there was no door, wondering how they could have walked past this for so many times and not notice it before.

The living room had a large fireplace at the other side of the room, in which a fire, the only source of light, was crackling merrily, casting odd shadows around the room. A large chandelier hung from the fifteen feet high ceiling but no light came from it. On both sides of the fireplace were large windows, draped with silver colored curtains. To the left was a fairly large bookcase with a few plants in between books and to the right was a working desk. In front of the fireplace was a large red rug and in front of the fire was a large ruby sofa with two comfortable ruby chairs that stood in front of the sofa but to the side, so that if a person were to sit in each chair they'd be facing each other, but not blocking the view of the fire for the people on the sofa.

"Ooh!" exclaimed Hermione and she immediately ran towards the bookcase. The others rolled their eyes and made their way towards the fireplace. Nora plopped down on the sofa right in the middle, feeling herself warm up in front of the fire already. Harry and Ron sat on either side of her, not sure if Nora was really feeling all right or if she was just acting. Draco sat next to Ron in one of the comfy chairs, as there wasn't any more room left on the sofa and Hermione seated herself in the comfy chair next to Harry, setting a stack of books on the floor. She looked at the pile but did not pick up a book. The other four stared at her in disbelief. Hermione, hesitating to open a book? Where is this world going? Hermione leaned back in her chair and instead of engrossing herself in a thick manuscript she stared into the fire. Nora, too, was not paying attention to her surroundings but was staring intently at the fire, its red, orange, yellow flames licking the wood, the merrily dancing fire reflecting in her blank eyes.

* * *

_A/N_: It's almost 12:00 midnight and I was totally on a roll with this story but then my parents came in and disturbed me and now I've lost it! (The ideas, not my sanity, mind you) I feel horrible! All of the great ideas just fell out of my head and now I dunno what to write! I'm totally hyperactive though, at midnight, can you imagine? And I don't want to go to sleep yet…

* * *

"We should play like 'Truth of Dare', or something!" said Ron excitedly, ripping Nora and Hermione from their thoughts.

"We already did that near Halloween, besides, there's not enough people," replied Harry.

"Then what? 'Spin the Bottle'?" suggested Ron, looking slightly disappointed.

"Nah, not enough people either," said Draco.

"We could play 'I've Never'," said Hermione.

"Hey, look who's awake!" said Harry playfully. "Oh, and another one!" he added, turning to look at Nora, who was yawning.

"What's 'I've Never?'" asked Ron. Draco and Harry looked at Hermione, too. Nora and Hermione grinned at each other before Hermione started explaining.

"It's pretty simple, and a good way to find out some information about the others. One person starts by saying a thing they've never done before and anyone else who _has_ done that raises their hand and one of them goes next," she told them. (_A/N_: I'm not exactly sure if that's how you really play, I got it from some other story, so tell me if it's wrong.)

"Sounds interesting enough," said Draco. "Who goes first?"

"I will," said Hermione. "Since I suggested it." Then she added straightforwardly: "I've never had sex." To no one's surprise Draco raised his hand, though they were wondering whom he had done it with. Harry, Hermione and Ron turned to look at Nora, since it was the only explanation, though she didn't have her hand raised.

"Pansy," he told them, as if reading their minds. There was a clear look of revulsion on his face. "I've never gotten a bad mark in Potions," he said, a bit proudly. Harry, Nora and Ron raised their hands glumly. They looked at each other to see who would go next.

_Another day_

_Staring out of my window_

_Thinkin' about tomorrow_

_Wishing things would clear._

"I've never lost someone I love," said Ron. Harry, Nora, Hermione and Draco all raised their hands. Ron avoided all eye contact with them; for some reason he felt guilty that he still had all of his relatives and loved ones, unlike his friends.

_No need to rush_

_I ain't gonna worry_

_Any moment my sorrow_

_Is bound to disappear._

"I've never known what it's like to have a real family," said Harry. Hermione, Nora and Ron raised their hands.

"I've never gotten an excellent mark in potions," Nora said. The others chuckled and Draco and Hermione raised their hands.

"I've never entered in a karaoke contest," said Draco. He, Harry and Ron laughed, which grew even louder as Hermione and Nora raised their hands slowly, turning very red.

"I've never gotten detention," Hermione said proudly and she laughed as the others all raised their hands.

"See, you're not wild if you've never had detention, 'Mione," Nora told her. "I've never had any horrible stories written about me in papers, say the Daily Prophet." Harry, raised both his hands in mock celebration, as Hermione and Draco just raised theirs normally.

"I've never had more than one girlfriend," said Harry. Draco's hand shot up as he smirked proudly at himself, and Nora and Hermione's hand went up slower.

"I've never done anything wild," said Hermione with a pout. The others laughed and raised their hands.

"I've never sat in a car," said Draco thoughtfully. The others raised their hands.

"I've never been nice to Percy," said Ron with a slight frown. Harry, Hermione and Nora raised their hands chuckling.

"I've never been out of this country," Harry told them. All of the others raised their hands. Harry pouted, feeling left out, and the others laughed. The game of 'I've Never' went on for quite a while as the five sat around the merrily crackling fire, its dancing flames occasionally catching their eyes. Every few 'I've nevers' or so there was a hearty laugh that filled the room and echoed for a few seconds. The fire slowly began to go out, its flames growing smaller and smaller. The game finally ended when Ron said:

"I've never stayed up this late when there was training early the next day." Everyone looked at their watch and gasped, or fell out of their seat in Hermione's case. Together they ran out of the room, laughing at their stupidity, and said their goodnights in front of their doors.

"Well, Hermione. It looks like you're starting to get wild. I'll bet you anything you've never stayed up this late when you had to rise early again the next day," Draco said. Hermione beamed.

"See? I'm getting there," she replied with a large smile. "Goodnight!" she told them and then entered her room. The others bade their goodnights, too, and with a last smile at each other they entered the peace and quite of their room.

_Sometimes I tell myself_

_I'm better off without you_

_And then I have to face the emptiness_

_I feel inside without you_

_And find a way to make it through another day._

The five students lay in their beds, the eerie silence pressing down upon their ears. The room seemed awfully dark and quite and it fed the uneasy feeling in the bottom of their stomach, allowing it grow larger and larger.

_I need a way_

_To find the truth within me_

_Accept the fact that I love you_

_My blue eternity._

The five students looked around their dark gloomy rooms with anxious eyes, their brains casting for miserable memories as brains always do when it's dark and everything seems ten times scarier. Of course the first things that the brains pulled out was the death of the beloved ones and the five spent the rest of the night that they were awake mourning and wiping away tears that kept forming sneakily in their eyes, no matter how hard they tried not to cry.

_I hear they say_

_What doesn't kill you makes you stronger_

_I must have the heart of a lion_

_Sifting through love's remains._

Loneliness seemed to close in on the five as they lay silently in their beds, wishing they would be freed of the burden that had fallen upon them… because of Voldemort. All those people that had been killed, even before his second birth, all of those families that had been torn apart. Again the loss of their loved ones drowned the students. How they missed them… how much they missed them… it was unbearable.

_My love for you is etched_

_Forever in my memory_

_Now I realize that life goes on_

_Even though you're not here with me_

_I wake up looking forward to another day_

_A day of living without you_

_I can't stand living without you_

_Just another day._

"Harry… Harry," an ethereal voice kept calling his name. "Harry… Harry." Harry looked around for the source and found himself standing in the corridor that led to the Fat Lady's portrait. "Harry," again that same wraithlike voice. He saw a figure moving away from a paper on the wall.

"Luna?"

"Harry, come here," Luna told him. Harry walked over to her and glanced at the note she had attached.

"Why aren't you at the feast?" he asked.

"Well, I've lost most of my possessions," Luna replied serenely. "People take them and hide them, you know. But as it's the last night before the summer vacation, I really do need them back, so I've been putting up signs." Harry felt sorry for Luna, a strange feeling of familiarity in his stomach.

"How come people hide your stuff?" He asked.

"Oh… well…" she shrugged. "I think they think I'm a bit odd, you know. Some people call me 'Loony' Lovegood, actually." Harry's feeling of pity intensified and he looked at the note again.

"That's no reason for them to take all of your things," he said flatly. "Want me to help you search for them?"

"Oh, no," she replied, smiling at him. "They'll come back, they always do in the end. It was just that I wanted to pack tonight. Anyway… why aren't you at the feast?" Harry shrugged. He had an odd feeling of déjà vu.

"I didn't feel like it," he replied.

"No," said Luna while observing him with those oddly misty, protuberant eyes. "I don't suppose you do. That man the Death Eaters killed was your Godfather, wasn't he? Ginny told me." Harry nodded curtly but found that for some reason he did not mind Luna talking about Sirius. He had just remembered that she, too, could see Thestrals. The feeling of déjà vu kept growing larger and larger the longer this conversation held, but Harry could not remember any other time he had seen this.

"Have you…" he began. "I mean, who… has anyone you known ever died?"

"Yes," said Luna simply. "My mother. She was quite an extraordinary witch, you know, but she did like to experiment and one of her spells went rather badly wrong one day. I was nine."

"I'm sorry," mumbled Harry.

"Yes, it was rather horrible," said Luna conversationally. "I still feel very sad about it sometimes. But I've still got dad. And anyway, it's not as though I'll never see mum again, is it?"

"Erm… isn't it?" said Harry uncertainly. Luna shook her head in disbelief.

"Oh, come on. You heard them, just behind the veil, didn't you?" she said.

"You mean…"

"In that room with the archway. They were just lurking out of sight, that's all. You heard them." They looked at each other, Harry's feeling of déjà vu growing ever larger. Luna was smiling slightly. Harry did not know what to say, or to think. Luna believed so many extraordinary things… yet he had been sure he had heard voices behind the veil, too.

"Are you sure you don't want me to help you look for your stuff?" he asked.

"Oh, no," said Luna. "No, I think I'll just go down and have some pudding and wait for it all to turn up… it always does in the end… well, have a nice holiday, Harry."

"Yeah… yeah, you too." She walked away from him and, as he watched her go, he found that the terrible weight in his stomach seemed to have lessened a little. Harry was about to turn around when he saw Luna lift off of the ground and fly down the corridor and out of the window, shouting: "Wheeeee!" Harry looked at her, his eyes wide, when the corridor of the Fat Lade transformed into a large forest and a hundred cloaked figures stood in a circle around him.

"My faithful Death Eaters," said Harry in a cold cruel voice. The Death Eaters around him bowed and Harry had a feeling of someone being… with him. "That fool Dumbledore has made the Concave Castle unplottable! But he will not stop us!"

"Excuse me, sir," said a tiny voice from Harry's left.

"What!" spat Harry. The Death Eater crumbled underneath Harry's icy stare.

"What is t-t-the Concave C-Castle?" the Death Eater asked, not looking directly at Harry.

"The Hatsrowg castle! Fool!" spat Harry. "Where Dumbledore and his five most precious students are hidden you useless excuse for a Death Eater! CRUCIO!" Yelled Harry, anger boiling inside him. The feeling that someone was with him grew and grew. The Death Eater coiled on the floor screaming in pain. When Harry finally lifted the curse the Death Eater kept twitching and lay panting on the floor. "We will have to search every book, paper, anything, to find a clue as to where it is. Then we will send Nagini and she will be able to break the spell. You may leave," said Harry, but he quickly added: "Not you, my fair Wormtail. You stay here." Wormtail whimpered but remained in his spot, which was on the floor, as the other Death Eaters left in a hurry. Harry pointed his wand at Wormtail, ignoring the great and awkward feeling that someone was with him, and shouted: "CRUCIO!"

Harry and Draco both shot up in their beds shouting in pain as one clutched the scar on his forehead and the other clasped the White Mark on his lower arm.

* * *

Ron sprinted along the small paths, turning right and left on intuition. His breath was fast and ragged, his legs moving as quickly as they could. Eerie hedges towered over him and the sky overhead was gloomy and overcast, occasionally loud rumbles could be heard, followed immediately by a fork of lightning. Ron looked up at the sound of cold malicious laughter. High above him, laughing, was Voldemort, his blood red eyes full of glee. Ron sped up, running faster and faster, trying to find the exit.

"Run, you poor excuse for a pureblood, run. For it is all you have in your power to escape the darkness that hides in this fascinating maze," he said, laughing at him. A shot of panic ran through Ron and he started running even faster, concentrating hard on finding the exit.

"Oh no, you pathetic fool, there is no exit, you are doomed to be torn apart by the beast of all darkness that is following your foul stench." Ron's heart sank. There would be no way to get out of here; he'd be doomed to die a painful death.

"That is right." Voldemort laughed again, watching him run through the maze. It began raining very hard and within minutes Ron was soaked. Voldemort gazed at something else in the maze and said: "You seem to be going in the very opposite direction the beast goes," said Voldemort. '_Good,_' thought Ron, but another thought entered his mind. '_What if it's trick? What if he wants you to keep running that way?_' he started panicking again and decided to turn right at the next chance he got. It took quite a while for a right turn to come up, but when it did he ran into as fast as he could. '_What if that was his plan?_' A thought told him. Ron didn't know what to do; he was frustrated and panicking like he'd never panicked before. He lost his grip on things and slipped in the mud, falling flat on his face.

"Very good," Voldemort said laughing hardly. Ron quickly got up and started running again, though he really didn't see the point. He knew no one would be able to save him and the beast would catch up sooner or later. He might as well stop running right now and let the animal come and devour him, but he still kept his fast pace, hoping that he'd be able to escape someway or another. Ron looked up, but Voldemort's large face was still floating above him, laughing ever so horribly. He recognized this scene from somewhere, but didn't know from where.

Ron turned another corner in the endless maze of doom. A fork of lightning flashed across the sky, lighting the maze for a split second. In that small second of light Ron saw dark looming shadows and two shadows caught his attention. There were other humans. Two girls. Ron kept running, hoping to find them, the cold hard rain splashing against his body. He was judging by Voldemort's happy laughter and shouts of joy that his doom was nearing him every second. Just then he ran straight into someone and fell in the mud. Ron quickly got up, wanting to see who the other girls were that were trapped in this awful maze.

"H-Hermione?" He asked. The other girl looked up, fear written all over her face.

"R-Ron? Oh thank, god! I-I'm so scared!" said Hermione standing up.

"Me too, and there's no way out of here!" shouted Ron, a feeling of dread spreading over him.

"I know," Hermione replied softly. Just then someone came hurtling towards them, slipping in the mud, splashing their clothes. Hermione helped the girl up and saw that it was Nora.

"Oh, Nora!" shouted Hermione as she hugged her friend. Ron joined in on the hug and the three of them just stood there, hugging, before loud growls dragged them back to the awful reality.

"Come on," said Ron and he began running again, Nora and Hermione right on his tail. The three of them ran through the small paths, turning corners every now and then at lightning speed, but still the growls were getting closer. There was a sudden fork of lightning right beside them and out of shock the three fell painfully on their backs, their whole bodies splattered with mud and what looked like…

"Blood?" said Hermione quietly looking at her arms and stomach. Nora had noticed, too, as had Ron. Their clothes were covered with dark red bloodstains, as were their arms. A loud rumbling growl made them look up and they stared into the eyes of evil.

There, staring at them, stood three gigantic leopards and instantly the three students knew what the animals were. They had learned the whole book of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' by heart and knew that the beasts in front of them were Nundus, the most dangerous animals in the world. The Nundu was a gigantic African leopard that moved silently, despite its size, and who's breath could cause disease virulent enough to eliminate entire villages. Fewer than a hundred skilled wizards working together had never yet subdued it. Ron, Hermione and Nora knew their lives were at an end; they would never be able to fight this beast with their bad wounds and no wand. Another fork of lightning flashed as Ron, Hermione and Nora looked into separate pairs of eyes of the Nundus. The feeling of déjà vu growing ever larger.

"Attack!" yelled Voldemort and no second later the Nundus jumped, mouths open wide and large pointy teeth glistening as the rain poured down on them as hard as ever. Ron, Hermione and Nora each let out a deafening cry as the Nundu's teeth sank painfully into their throats.

* * *

The five students shot up in their bed screaming as loudly as they could, covered in sweat and breathing frantically. Hermione and Nora jumped out of their beds, ran into the hallway, bumped into each other and shrieked in fright before slumping on the floor. Immediately three doors opened and out sprinted Harry, Ron and Draco, wondering what all the shouting was about. They saw the two girls lying on the floor, panting and sweating, and immediately rushed to their aid, looking very pale themselves.

"Are you all right?" asked Harry.

"What happened?" questioned Ron.

"How'd you get out here?" inquired Draco. The two girls tried to reply but they were just too exhausted, they felt as if they really had run all through Voldemort's maze.

"Maze," spluttered Hermione as she tried to sit up.

"Oh no you don't," said Harry and he pushed her back down.

"Voldemort's Maze," spluttered Hermione again.

"Maze?" asked Ron. "I had a nightmare about a maze, too. It all seemed vaguely familiar."

"We-We've had t-t-that nightmare before," stammered Nora, turning the attention on her. "W-W-With the N-N-Nundus." Then she fainted.

"Is she all right?" demanded Draco as Nora closed her eyes and slumped back on the floor.

"I think she fainted," said Hermione, trying to get up again, but Harry's grip was too firm and she remained in a lying position on the floor.

"Why?" asked Draco outraged, standing up. None of them had fainted, why had she? What if it was something serious and all of them just ignored it? "What if its sirius?" he demanded. Harry stood up and spun around to look at him in such speed that Draco backed away, frightened. "What?" he asked in a small voice.

"Did you just say: Sirius? 'What if it's something Sirius'," asked Harry, his voice a bit menacingly.

"No. I said: serious. 'What if it's something serious,'" replied Draco.

"He did, mate," said Ron when Harry still hadn't backed off. Harry turned to look at his friend and then at the two girls that lay on the floor. Hermione had just fainted, too.

"We should bring them to a hospital wing of some sort," said Harry quietly. The other two nodded and Ron raised Hermione and laid her in Harry's arms as Draco hoisted Nora in his. They made their way out of the hallway and stood at the foot of the grand staircase, wondering where to go.

* * *

_A/N_: Yay, another chapter for you to read… and review. I hope you liked it. I feel really depressed: it's not a white Christmas for us here! Make me feel better by reviewing, won't you? Oh, right, I almost forgot, the song I put in is: Another Day by Buckshot LeFonque and B. Marsalis. 


	33. Patronus'

_A/N_: I just wanted to thank all of my reviewers before I continue with my story. THANK YOU! I really appreciate the reviews; they keep me going on with the story. I never actually thought I'd get this far, or even get so many reviews. THANK YOU! (Again) but now I'll let you get on with the story because that's what you're really here to read:

**Chapter 33: Patronus'**

"Which way?" asked Ron, turning to look at Harry and Draco.

"I dunno," replied Harry. "Should we take them to Dumbledore's office?"

"Yeah, I think that's the only choice we have," said Draco. The three guys took one step forward and then stopped again.

"Which way?" asked Ron, turning to look at Harry and Draco again.

"I dunno," replied Harry. "Should we ask a painting?"

"Yeah, I think that's the only choice we have," repeated Draco. The three walked up the grand staircase and stopped at the first painting they saw. It was of a rather large man sitting at a table and eating pie. "Excuse me, sir," said Draco. The man looked up, blueberry jelly dribbling down his front.

"Yes?" the man asked gruffly, looking at them suspiciously and putting his arms around his pie as if protecting it.

"We were wondering where Dumbledore's office is," Draco told him. The fat man kept eyeing them and then asked:

"What'd you do to those girls?"

"Nothing," replied Harry swiftly. "Could you please tell us where Dumbledore's office is?"

"No can do," the man replied. "I don't have the time for your silly mission. You go find someone else." Harry and Draco glared at the man and then went back downstairs to the landing where there rooms where.

"Rude," huffed Ron at the fat man and then followed the others. Harry and Draco lifted the girls a bit higher, trying to get a better grip and then looked around, wondering what to do now.

"Do you hear that?" asked Draco, looking around.

"Hear wha-" began Harry.

"Shhh," Ron pressed a finger to his lips. There was a faint clattering sound that grew louder and louder. The three guys looked at each other as the clanking noise came nearer. When it sounded as though the source of the noise should be right beside them, a familiar voice asked:

"Did someone say: 'mission?'" Harry, Ron and Draco spun around to stare at a painting of a forest in which sir Cadogan was, sitting on his fat little pony.

"Erm… yes, just a few moments ago," replied Ron, wondering how on earth the knight could have heard.

"And what exactly is this mission?" demanded sir Cadogan, pulling out his sword and threatening them with it.

"We want to know where Dumbledore's office is," replied Draco, readjusting Nora in his arms again.

"Ah, well then, follow me!" shouted sir Cadogan. He kicked his pony in the sides and it cantered into the next painting. The others followed him but Harry and Draco weren't able to run too fast while carrying the two girls.

"Why don't we use a levitating charm or something?" asked Harry after a while. Draco nodded in relief.

"Why didn't we think of that before?" he muttered as he laid Nora down beside Hermione.

"Locomotor," he said and Nora slowly lifted into the air. Harry did the same thing to Hermione and together he, Ron and Draco followed sir Cadogan, the girls floating in front of them. After a while of climbing steps and hurrying down corridors sir Cadogan stopped in a painting that hung in front of the stone Unicorn that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's office.

"I'll be off, now!" said sir Cadogan. "If ever you need my help for a quest just call for me!" he told them and then his plump pony cantered out of sight.

"Right," muttered Ron. "What was the password again?"

"Canary Creams," said Harry. The stone Unicorn came into life and moved to the side to let the three guys go through the door it had been guarding. Harry, Ron and Draco entered the splendid hallway again, closing the door carefully behind them. They directed the two floating girls down the hall towards the next door. Ron opened the door for them without knocking and the three of them stormed inside, guiding the girls in last. Dumbledore looked up from his desk where he had been inspecting a piece of parchment.

"Doesn't he ever sleep?" muttered Ron as Dumbledore hurried from behind his desk and was before them in an instant.

"What is it? What happened?" he asked worriedly, seeing Hermione and Nora floating unconscious in midair.

"We're not sure. They had a nightmare and shortly after they fainted," answered Harry as he took the spell off of Hermione and laid her carefully on the floor.

"What kind of nightmare?" inquired Dumbledore.

"Something with that maze again," replied Draco as he carefully lay Nora next to Hermione.

"I had it, too," said Ron quietly. Everyone looked at him.

"You did?" asked Harry.

"Yes. I saw them in my nightmare. It was just as they had explained a few days ago. It was awful."

"But then why didn't you faint like they did?" asked Harry.

"I believe," began Dumbledore, coming to a quick conclusion, drawing everyone's attention to him. "That it was all too exhausting for them. They had not had much sleep and then that nightmare for the second or third time, it was too much for them to take."

"But we stayed up late, too," argued Ron. "I didn't faint."

"That is because it is only the first time you have had this nightmare," answered Dumbledore. "Did either of you have a nightmare?" he questioned, turning to Harry and Draco. The two guys nodded.

"Yes," they replied at the same time.

"About?"

"Voldemort," answered the two, again at the same time.

"Ah, I believe you were both Voldemort?"

"Yes." And the two began explaining about their nightmare of Voldemort and his meeting with his Death Eaters. They did not include that they had had a feeling of someone being there with them during the nightmare. It was explained now; Harry had felt Draco's presence and Draco had felt Harry's.

"So it really has been Nagini who had thrown off all of Hogwarts' protection spells. Now, would you all please reach for Hermione's Amulet to regain your strength," ordered Dumbledore and the three did as they were told. Harry went first and let go of the Amulet immediately. He was now so familiar to the Amulet that his color did not even light the room anymore. Ron's color shone only very faintly and Draco's was still visible, though a lot less than before. Dumbledore muttered some kind of spell and both Hermione and Nora opened their eyes and hurriedly sat up straight on the ground.

"What happened?" asked Hermione. "What are we doing here? And why am I on the floor?" she questioned while frowning at the ground.

"You two fainted after you had a nightmare," answered Dumbledore. A dark look spread over Hermione's face, replacing her confusedness.

"Oh, right," she said, glaring at no one and nothing in particular. She stood up and then helped up Nora who was glowering, too.

"You remember it, then, the nightmare?"

"Yes," replied both girls rather fiercely.

"And you remember seeing Ron in it?"

"Yes," this time a lot softer.

"You had that nightmare too, then?" asked Nora. Ron nodded.

"It was horrible. I now understand why you yelled so much last time you had it. I think I shouted myself when I woke up earlier," replied Ron.

"I think we all shouted when we woke up," said Draco. Harry nodded.

"Hermione, Nora," began Dumbledore. "Touch the Amulet of Era's and then we'll go and have some breakfast." Hermione and Nora did as they were told. Both girls had fully mastered regaining strength from the Amulet, and like Harry their color did not shine anymore. "Let us go, then," Dumbledore told them and he led them out of the office and into the splendid hall. They walked by the Unicorn that guarded the door, walked down the corridors they had passed earlier, descended the grand staircase, past the painting of the fat man that had denied them the directions to Dumbledore's office earlier, and entered the Dining Room, taking their usual seats.

"I'm starving," muttered Ron. "What time is it?"

"Quarter past six," replied Harry after a glance at his watch.

"That early?" asked Hermione. Harry nodded. Dumbledore clapped his hands and called out to no one in particular. Almost instantly the house-elf named Taury appeared.

"What is you liking, sir?" she asked in her high-pitched voice.

"Is it possible for you to make us breakfast so early in the morning?" asked Dumbledore.

"Oh yes, master, yes," replied Taury while nodding her head vigorously.

"Then we would like some," said Dumbledore with a smile. Taury bowed and then disappeared. "I am afraid," began Dumbledore with a slightly gloomy smile. "That Voldemort now has all of the Dementors fully on his side and he might use them in battle. Therefore it is important that you all practice your Patronus'. We will begin training after breakfast."

"How will we practice?" questioned Hermione. She feared that real Dementors were going to be their opponents.

"I have a set of Boggarts we can exercise on," replied Dumbledore. "That would be the best way to practice." Hermione gave a slight sigh of relief. Just then food appeared on the table and the six of them began munching on whatever they had piled on their plates.

After breakfast was done and the plates had been cleared Dumbledore got up and led them to the room they used for training. In the middle stood a few boxes that probably held the Boggarts.

"First we will practice without the Boggarts. Take out your wands," ordered Dumbledore. The five students did as they were told. "Concentrate on a happy memory and then say: 'Expecto Patronum'." Again the five students obeyed, Harry feeling like there wasn't any point since they had already covered this in the DA meetings last year. Harry's stag galloped around the room with Nora's Unicorn and Draco's stallion while Hermione's otter gamboled around Ron's salamander, which breathed silver fire every now and then.

"Very well done," said Dumbledore with a smile. "I see the DA's been very helpful. Now Harry, I want you to stand here so the Boggarts will change into Dementors and not into whatever the others fear," continued Dumbledore while showing Harry his position in front of the boxes. Harry stood in front of them, took a deep breath and then exhaled very slowly. Dumbledore took the lids off of the five boxes and at first nothing happened. Then, as there was a sharp intake of breath from the two girls and Harry staggered backwards, a Dementor rose slowly from each box, its face covered, it's rattling breath sucking all of the happiness from the room. Each of the Dementors made for one of the students.

"Now cast your Patronus'," said Dumbledore. Harry cast around for a happy memory. '_When Sirius asked me to move in with him… no, that won't do, he's gone now,_' and as he thought it he felt sadness again and voices, other than those of his friends or Dumbledore, began to wave in and out of tune. Harry knew they belonged to his parents and maybe Voldemort so he quickly cast around for a happier memory. '_When I received my OWL's,_' he thought. '_I got seven, that certainly was a proud moment. Yes, but not happy enough to throw off a Dementor._' Harry could see his Dementor drawing ever closer, his rattling breath sucking away every bit of happiness, its rotten slimy hands protruding from its cloak. Harry looked at his friends, noticing they were having as much trouble as he was. Then it hit him. What else in this world could make him happier than he ever was? His friends of course. How could he have been so stupid? Harry cleared his throat and then said very loudly while thinking of Parvati, Ron, Hermione, Nora and even Draco:

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" His parents' voices grew louder. His silver stag erupted out of the end of his wand and ran down the Dementor that had been nearing. The Dementor stumbled and tripped over his cloak.

"Riddikulus!" said Dumbledore and the Dementor turned into a shapeless gray blob, which Dumbledore put in its box. Harry was watching his friends, who were still struggling, while petting his stag. Then it disappeared, leaving Harry feeling quite empty. He had remembered how his father would turn into a stag once a month while Sirius turned into a great shaggy dog, just to keep Lupin company. Harry turned his attention back on his friends. Hermione's otter had just run into the Dementor and it stumbled and fell flat on his back.

"Riddikulus!" said Dumbledore and he put Hermione's Dementor back in its box, too. Hermione walked over to Harry, looking a little flushed.

"It occurred to me a bit late that my happy memory was you guys," she said, blushing a little. Just then the others walked over, too.

"I just couldn't find a memory happy enough to cast my Patronus until it was almost too late," said Ron looking extremely relieved. "Finally I remembered you guys and Lavender," he added, looking embarrassed. He, Harry and Hermione turned to look at Nora and Draco, wanting to know what their happy thought had been.

"Oh, my happy memory was you guys, it just took me a while to realize," lied Nora. It had really been about only one of them: Draco. The others nodded and looked at Draco.

"First Nymphirah, but then I remembered she had been killed so that didn't work and then I recalled you guys," he told them. Again the others nodded, but what they did not know was that his happy memory had been the girl standing next to him: Nora.

"All right. We will keep practicing until you can fully throw off the Dementors in record time. And when you can we will practice with more than one Dementor per student," explained Dumbledore. He lifted the tops off the boxes again and Dementors rose out of them. Harry walked away again and thought hard about his friends. He turned around, shouted: "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" and watched as the Dementor ran away from his stag and into the box. Draco's stallion erupted from his wand, charged at the Dementor and then returned to Draco as Dumbledore put the Boggart in its box. Nora's Unicorn had gored her Dementor with it's horn and Ron's salamander set his Dementor on fire while Hermione's otter, despite its small size, ran her Dementor down.

Practice with one Dementor for each kept going until it went fully well and all of them had no trouble at all keeping the Dementor away. Then each of them got two Dementors and when that had also been 'mastered' each student got three Dementors to go up against. It went on like that until all of them could fully throw off ten Dementors at once. Dumbledore clapped his hands once, smiling at them very proudly.

"I would keep you going even longer but as it is already half past two and we have been practicing for about eight hours straight I believe you would prefer to rest and have some free time," he told them. The others nodded. "I am almost sure that Voldemort will use his Dementors against you in the next battle and I know that you will be able to throw them off fully, even though they are with a large quantity. I have already seen Harry overthrow over a hundred Dementors in his third year and I have no doubts that he will not be able to overcome even more of them," Dumbledore smiled. "You may go." The five students exited the training room.

"Where to now?" asked Ron but Hermione had already walked off into the left direction and the others hurried to keep up with her, wondering how on earth she knew which way to go.

"'Mione. 'Mione? Hermione Catharine Granger!" shouted Nora as she tried to keep up with her friend. Finally Hermione stopped and turned around.

"What?" she asked.

"Where on earth are you taking us and why are you going so darn fast?" asked Nora, trying to steady her breath. Harry, Ron and Draco had arrived now, too, and were waiting for an answer.

"Well I tried to memorize how we got here and if I'm right this is the right way back," replied Hermione.

"And why are you going so fast?" demanded Ron.

"Because I want to get to the part of this castle I know and feel safe in," replied Hermione. The others stared at her. "Because I'm afraid I'll forget the right way out of here if I take too long," Hermione told them.

"Well why didn't you say so!" shrieked Nora and she grabbed Hermione and ran down the hallway as fast as she could, not wanting to get lost in this castle again, Harry, Ron and Draco following. Nora finally let go of her friend and Hermione was now running in front, hoping she still knew the way. The five of them hurried down all sorts of gloomy halls and corridors, but luckily they looked familiar, so it must be the right way. They rushed through a large set of doors and found themselves in the Entrance Hall of the Concave Castle.

"Bless your highly intelligent brain," said Nora while patting Hermione gently on the head. Harry, Ron and Draco smiled and thanked their brilliant friend, too.

"Now what?" asked Hermione, while looking at the others.

"Well, we agreed you'd take us to that lake in the forest," replied Harry.

"Oh, right," both girls said together.

"How about we all go upstairs and get changed into our swimsuits and we meet outside, in front of the castle," suggested Hermione. The others agreed, they hardly argued with each other, and together the five went upstairs to change. Nora and Hermione exited their rooms at the same time nearly fifteen minutes later. They walked through the hall, down the stairs, into the Entrance Hall and out through the main doors. A warm breeze brushed against them as they walked into the clearing in front of the castle, holding their towels in one hand.

"What took you guys so long?" asked Ron as the girls walked outside.

"Yeah, we've been waiting for ages," agreed Draco, trying hard not to goggle at his ex.

"We were ready after less than five minutes," said Harry.

"Well, excuse us," huffed Hermione. "But if you keep nagging we're not gonna show you were it is." When they remained silent she said: "Let's go, then," and she and Nora headed off to the forest, Harry, Ron and Draco following quietly behind. When they finally reached the clearing the two girls threw their towels down, kicked off their sandals and ran into the water, laughing. The guys stood still for the first five minutes, admiring the beauty of the lake and the waterfall and the plants and, in Draco's case, Nora.

"Come on!" the two girls shouted as they splashed each other. The three guys laid their towels down, took their sneakers off and then ran into the water.

"Now where was that climbing rock you told us about?" asked Draco, looking around. Both Hermione and Nora swam promptly to the waterfall and ran out of the water. Together they climbed the large boulder-like rocks, watched carefully by the guys. When they could not climb any further they stood on the edge and waved at the other three.

"Is that even safe?" asked Ron. Hermione and Nora looked at each other, shrugged and then nodded.

"Who goes first?" asked Nora.

"I'll go," replied Hermione, eyes gleaming, and she jumped into the air, did two forward somersaults and dived into the water. Harry, Ron and Draco clapped and, when Hermione had come back up to the surface, the four watched Nora. She jumped into the air, ignoring her butterflies, did three backward flips and then entered the water in a perfect diving position. Again Harry, Ron and Draco clapped.

"That was amazing," Harry told the two girls.

"Yeah, it really was," agreed Ron and Draco nodded. The two girls smiled and started swimming, soon joined by the guys. Hermione gave a shriek as Harry grabbed her foot and pulled her under the water. Nora turned around, trying to see what had happened only to see Ron and Draco advancing on her. She slowly back away and then began swimming as fast as she could. She reached firm ground and ran out of the water shrieking her head off. Then she started running around the lake while Draco was chasing her, threatening to tickle her if he ever caught up.

"Oh no you don't!" yelled Nora as she ran around the lake for the fourth time. "I am _not_ letting anyone tickle me!"

"Well then you'll just have to keep running as fast as you can, won't you?" replied Draco.

"You'll never catch me!" shouted Nora but when she heard no reply she slowed down and looked behind her. There was no one to be seen. She looked into the water where Harry and Ron were teasing Hermione, who was unable to escape. Nora looked at the climbing rocks and got an idea. She would jump into the water and startle Harry and Ron, allowing Hermione to escape. Nora ran towards the rocks and began climbing as fast as she could. When she finally reached the top she paused to catch her breath. She walked towards the edge and looked down, the waterfall flowing rapidly a few feet beside her. She tried to find Draco, but he was nowhere to be seen. She looked everywhere, scanning the grounds carefully but still he couldn't be found. When she was about to jump, a rustling sound made her look behind her. She shrieked as she saw Draco charge at her. He put his arms around her and jumped in the air, then falling and nearing the water, Nora shrieking all the while. They entered the refreshingly cold water, Draco holding on to Nora tightly, and a small tidal wave erupted, saving Hermione from Harry and Ron. When Nora reached the surface she took a large breath of air and glared at Draco who emerged too, though he was laughing.

"I hate you," said Nora, glaring at the laughing boy in front of her. "That is the second time you did that to me in two, three months!" she exclaimed, though she wasn't really mad. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Aw, can't handle a little pressure? Boy you should have heard yourself shrieking. I nearly went deaf," mocked Draco, still laughing.

"I'll give you something to shriek about," threatened Nora. Draco gave a very girly scream and then started making his way back towards the side, trying to get out of the water, Nora chasing him. They all spent the next few hours chasing each other and later on Hermione and Nora showed the three boys how to jump off of the rocks.

* * *

_A/N_: Rather short, isn't it? I tried extending it a little, but I really couldn't think of anything else, so this'll have to do. Thank you reviewers! And everyone else who has the great power of being able to read my story without dozing off or switching to another story after reading the first few lines of mine.

I also wanted to say that after this chapter I'm going to take a break because I've really neglected my revision and the end of term exams are in like eight or nine days so I've really got to get studying. I really hope you guys don't mind! Wish me luck, I'm going to need it.


	34. Lily and James

_A/N_: All right, I know I said I wasn't going to write as much so as to spend more time revising and studying, but I just had this great idea for this chapter, at quarter past ten p.m., and I just had to start writing, for fear I'd forget it or lose half of the idea. Mind you, I'll probably start this chapter today and finish it later. I, though you may think otherwise, do not write chapters in one day, only if I have nothing else to do and the chapter nearly writes itself. Usually my chapters are written in a few days, depends on how swiftly I come up with more ideas for it and how well I can fit them in. Anyway, I present you my brilliant idea:

**Chapter 34: Lily and James**

Harry stood in what looked like a living room. It wasn't as furnished as most living rooms, most personal possessions were left out, but it was recognizable as one. He looked around. There was a small fireplace, in front of it a simple couch and two sitting chairs. To one side were an adequate bookcase and a potted plant and on the other side were a small round dining table with two chairs and a baby seat. A door to the right led to the small kitchen and the opening in front of him to the hall. Harry wondered what he was doing here. The place looked nowhere near familiar and the picture on the side table next to the couch showed a cooing baby he didn't recognize being held by a happy young couple he'd never seen before… or had he? Harry walked closer to the picture, a feeling of dread forming in the pit of his stomach. The woman of the happy couple had fiery red hair and amazing green eyes… his eyes. The man looked almost exactly like him, except for the eyes, he had dark brown eyes.

"Mom? Dad?" whispered Harry as he walked even nearer. His parents laughed as little baby Harry struggled to free himself from his father's strong grip. Just then a woman, his mother, exited the kitchen and entered the living room. She looked at the picture, not knowing Harry was there, smiled at it and was about to sit down on the sofa when his father ran loudly down the stairs, a crying Harry in his arms, and rushed into the living room, his face horror-struck.

"What? James, what is it?" asked Lily, fearing the worst, while baby Harry was screaming his lungs out. The real Harry stood off to the side, not wanting to see this, ready to give anything just so he wouldn't have to see this.

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off -" His father gave Harry to his mother and then stumbled from the room and into the hall. The real Harry saw the front door burst open and heard the high-pitched cackle of laughter from Voldemort. Harry wanted to run into the hall, to help his father, but he knew it wouldn't have made a difference, knew it would not have any effect at all, besides: his feet were rooted to the spot and the feeling of terror was making him very nauseous. Lily, still holding a screaming Harry, looked every which way, not knowing where to go, tears flowing from her beautiful eyes.

"Run, Lily!" shouted James, right before a bright green light filled the hall and hit him in the chest. Harry saw his father slump to the ground and watched in terror as Voldemort entered the living room, smiling a horrifying smile, his red eyes eyeing little baby Harry, who had suddenly stopped crying. Lily laid Harry carefully in a chair and stood in front of him, blocking Voldemort's way.

"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl," said Voldemort in his horribly cruel voice. Tears streamed down Lily's face, but she did not move aside.

"Not Harry! Not Harry! Please, I'll do anything!" she told the malicious man in front of her. Voldemort just laughed.

"Stand aside, silly girl! Stand aside and I will spare your life," He told Lily, but she still did not move. Harry still stood off to the side, watching horror-struck. He had heard it many times before, whenever Dementors got too near, but never had he seen it, never had he actually witnessed what had happened, except when he had been one year old.

"Please not Harry! I'll do anything! Please! Take me instead!" pleaded Lily, but Voldemort dismissed her with another cackle of laughter. Then Harry heard something else, his mother's voice, though she had not opened her mouth. '_Please, let him take me instead of Harry. Please! Let him take me!_' he heard and Harry realized they were her thoughts. '_Please save my dear Harry. Save him._'

"If you will not move, foolish mudblood, then I will have to get rid of you myself," said Voldemort and he raised his wand, ready to rob yet another body of its soul, ready to end yet another life. Harry tried hard to look away but he found that he couldn't and as Voldemort said those two fatal words his mother's last thought ran through his head. '_Death will not be so horrible; I-I'll see James again._' Then she slumped to the ground and Voldemort rounded on little baby Harry who had kept unnaturally silent all of a sudden. The real Harry was very silent, too, but tears were streaming freely down his face as he gazed at his one year old self.

"Well, my dear Harry. Now it is time to end your life as well," said Voldemort with his cruel voice. "Avada Kedavra!" there was, for the third time, a flash of bright green light but it rebounded off of Harry and instead it hit Voldemort who gave a horrible shriek and then slumped to the floor.

* * *

_A/N_: so far for my wonderfully brilliant idea.

* * *

Harry shot up in his bed screaming, crying and shaking, as he had never done before. He let out a loud holler before two pairs of arms enclosed him in two separate hugs. He stopped shouting but nothing could stem the flow of his tears that were pouring freely down his pale and clammy face, not for a while at least. He guessed by the familiar scent of meadows and rain that Hermione was on his left side and by the well-known scent of raspberries that Nora was on his right, both girls rocking him back and forth ever so slightly. He got flash of a memory that he never knew he had. A woman with auburn hair and brilliant green eyes was trying to shush her crying baby by barely rocking it back and forth, a lily shaped pendant dangling from her neck catching the baby's attention. Harry's tears began to increase again and he cried into whatever he could find, in this case Hermione's arm.

"Poor thing," mouthed Nora, on the verge of tears. Hermione nodded as she gently stroked Harry's head. Ron and Draco stood to the side, not knowing what to do. It was awful seeing their best friend, who always seemed so strong and keen to live, crying endlessly as if he had just witnessed a murder of someone he loved. Ron finally walked over, after Hermione had beckoned him to, and he sat on the bed with the two girls and the still crying Harry. Not sure of what to do Ron gave Harry a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Not only did he feel a little uncomfortable with the situation, but it scared him, too. Harry had always been strong, always been tough. Hadn't he been the one who wanted to stop Snape, who later turned out to be Quirrel, from stealing the Philosopher's Stone. Hadn't he been the one who was determined to enter the Chamber of Secrets and save Ginny. Hadn't he been the one who got through all three tasks of the Triwizard Tournament and survived the return of Voldemort, when he wasn't supposed to? Had he not been the one who had insisted on saving Sirius from Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic and in the process fought off all of those Death Eaters? Ron sighed a quiet sigh and gave Harry, who was now sobbing onto Hermione's shoulder, another reassuring pat.

"Come here," mouthed Nora to Draco who still stood off to the side, leaning against the wall. Reluctantly Draco walked over and seated himself on the bed next to Ron. Hermione and Nora were still hugging Harry and rocking him backwards and forwards ever so slightly as he cried freely into Hermione's shoulder. None of them had so much as a clue as to what had triggered this sudden and unstoppable flow of tears and that was what scared them the most. Sure, Sirius' death had caused Harry to shed a few tears lately, and a lot more when he had only recently died, but Harry was over it for the biggest part so it was impossible that the reason was Sirius. Certainly, nightmares of Voldemort caused Harry to scream every time he woke up from them, clutching his scar, but this time he had screamed a painful, an emotionally excruciating, heartbreaking, painful scream that he had never uttered before and he hadn't just clutched his scar, no, he had really clutched it as if it was killing him in the slowest, most painful way. By all means, Harry usually woke up from his nightmares trembling, but this time he had really been shaking; he had been quivering so furiously that it had looked so unreal. Oh, it had been awful when the four of them had run into Harry's room to see him sitting up in his bed, screaming, shaking ever so feverishly, tears streaming down his face, onto his spread. The horror of it. And they had stood still for five seconds, which had seemed like an eternity, before Hermione and Nora had run up to Harry and thrown their arms around him, terrified looks on their faces, and when they had started rocking him back and forth ever so faintly he had seemed to calm down somewhat, but the tears still came pouring out as freely as ever. The terror of it.

The four of them, Hermione, Nora, Ron and Draco, sat around Harry, waiting for him to calm down somewhat, but it did not look as if that would be happening soon. Hermione and Nora still held him in two separate hugs and were still rocking him back and forth, though they were now also whispering soothing words to him, murmuring calm soothing words as Harry shed still more tears.

Harry's mind had gone almost completely blank. He found it hard to think about anything else but the… thing he had witnessed. His father, trying to give his mother a head start, trying to hold Voldemort off by himself, being killed almost instantly. His mother, laying him, baby Harry, down as she stood in front of him, guarding him against Voldemort. His mother wishing Harry would live, thinking her last thought before she was killed. Knowing she would see James again. All of those things kept flashing through Harry's mind like a slideshow, only everything kept coming back again and again and again. He knew his friends were there, he knew Hermione and Nora were still holding him in comfortable hugs, whispering words he could hear but not understand. His mind was clouded with the death of his parents and the pain that was still coming from his scar. Oh, the pain. He knew Ron was the one that would pat his shoulder reassuringly every so often, but he didn't acknowledge it. He also knew that Draco was the one that sat as stiffly as ever next to Ron, but he didn't realize it. Everything just went by him.

* * *

An hour later Hermione and Nora were inspecting Harry with worried looks on their faces. He had slowly stopped crying and trembling but now he just sat silently, staring at nothing in particular, a void, blank expression on his face.

"Dumbledore?" whispered Hermione, on the verge of tears. Nora nodded, almost about to cry herself. Hermione cast an invisible stretcher and charmed Harry onto it. Then she directed the stretcher out of the room and into the Hall, Nora, Ron and Draco following.

"We'll lead the way," whispered Draco and he and Ron hurried out of the hall to stairs where they stopped. Where was Dumbledore's office again? They cursed the castle as Hermione stopped next to them, Harry floating in the air on the invisible stretcher beside her, staring at nothing.

"Which way?" she asked desperately. "And where did Nora go?" She peered into the hall and saw Nora hurrying through it. "What took you?" snapped Hermione when Nora finally arrived.

"Nothing. I was just checking the room for anything we could've taken with us," replied Nora as she took her hand out of her pocket. Hermione looked back at Ron and Draco, asking if they had found out how on earth they were going to get to Dumbledore. Nora felt her pocket to make sure the piece of parchment was still there. She had, when Hermione, Ron and Draco were hurrying out of the hall, seen a piece of parchment fly out of Draco's pocket and drift towards the floor. When she had neared it she had noticed that it was a picture, a picture of a very beautiful girl that smiled and waved to someone that stood beside the photographer. Underneath the picture had been neatly written in cursive writing: _Nymphirah_. The name sounded oddly familiar, but she guessed that was because of Tonks' first name, Nymphadora.

"I remember," said Draco.

"Remember what?" asked Hermione, hoping he knew where to go.

"How to find Dumbledore's office," replied Draco. Then he continued very loudly: "Sir Cadogan! We have another quest for you!" For the next few seconds nothing happened and Hermione and Nora looked at him as if he'd lost his marbles, but then they heard a clattering noise, growing louder and louder.

"That's right. We were supposed to call him if we had another mission," said Ron as Sir Cadogan arrived, looking a bit flushed.

"Couldn't… mount… pony… had… to… run," he panted as he leaned on a plump witch in her painting. The witch batted him away and then ran off into another painting for cover. Sir Cadogan ignored it and then asked eagerly: "So, what is this quest you have for me?"

"We need you to bring us to Dumbledore's office again. It's really urgent," replied Hermione. Sir Cadogan's smile faded a little, because it wasn't a new quest, but he began running into to the other paintings anyway, leading them. The four students followed him, Harry floating in front. All the while Nora could not help but wonder what Draco was doing with a picture of such a little girl when it hit her, how could she have been so stupid? It was Draco's little sister, the one he had the cared most for, the one he had loved more than life itself.

"It is not far now, my fair ladies and good gentlemen," Sir Cadogan told them as he hurried through another painting. Hermione was trying hard to keep Harry's stretcher straight while also struggling to keep up with her friends and the knight. "Ah, there it is. Looming in the everlasting shadows. The Unicorn of Hope and Life. I shall be off now. Remember, if you have another quest, shout my name and I shall come a-running!" Sir Cadogan exclaimed and then he ran away again, leaving the others behind, staring at him.

"Canary Creams," said Hermione, remembering why they were here. The Unicorn turned to life and walked to the side to let them through, pawing the ground nervously as if it knew something was wrong with Harry, who was still floating in the air, staring at the ceiling, the void, blank expression still in his eyes, his face pale and beads of sweat glistening on his forehead. Draco opened the door and hurried through the hall, opening the next door for his friends, who were nearly running, hoping Harry would be all right.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir!" exclaimed Ron when he entered the room. Though the room was filled with light, it was empty except for Fawkes who flew off his perch immediately and settled himself on Harry's chest. The magnificent bird could sense Harry was wounded, but as it was not physically, there was nothing he could do. Not even his tears could save Harry now. Hermione lowered the invisible stretcher on the ground and then let it disappear. She and Nora kneeled next to Harry and both embraced him in yet another hug, beginning to whisper words again, trying to pull him back to reality… but it did not help. Nothing did. Harry's eyes remained void and his face expressionless as he stared at nothing. Ron and Draco paced around as Fawkes flew circles above Harry singing a beautiful, hope giving song. Though this magnificent song strengthened Hermione, Nora, Ron and Draco, it did not seem to affect Harry at all.

Ron and Draco were still pacing around five minutes later, though it seemed like forever, while Hermione and Nora still tried everything in their power to help Harry when the door burst open with a loud crash and Dumbledore stormed into the room, his eyes searching.

"Sir Cadogan told me you were waiting here. He said it was urgent. What happened?" he demanded when he spotted Ron and Draco, who had finally stopped pacing.

"Nightmare," replied Draco immediately. "That's all we know." Dumbledore furrowed his brow and only then did he spot Harry sitting on the floor, staring ahead of himself and Nora and Hermione hugging him. Dumbledore was with Harry in two large quick strides. Nora and Hermione got up and stood aside with Ron and Draco as Dumbledore checked Harry.

"Strange… horrendous…" muttered the old man. None of the other four dared ask what was so strange and horrendous; they had _never_ seen Dumbledore look so… lividly worried. Finally Dumbledore stood up, leaving Harry lying on the ground. "I have no doubt that this is the work of Voldemort," he told them.

"Is he d-d-dead?" asked Hermione while clinging on to Nora. Dumbledore shook his head and both Hermione and Nora let out a large sigh of breath they had no idea they'd been holding. "But it was a very close call." Hermione's grip on Nora's arm tightened again. "If it had not been for you two and your comfort, Harry would have slipped into eternal darkness, forced to relive and only think about whatever it was that has him so troubled. It was a very close call indeed."

"Will he be all right?" demanded Ron. Dumbledore nodded, his serious and livid face making room for a slight smile.

"Yes he will be, but now we have to get him to the infirmary." And with that Dumbledore levitated Harry back onto an invisible stretcher and directed him out of the room, into the splendid hall, out of the splendid hall and into the space where the Unicorn of Hope and Life guarded the door, the others following in dead silence. Dumbledore led them all through the castle and to the infirmary that contained five beds. Dumbledore directed Harry to the nearest one and laid him onto it. He then began rummaging around in one of the cabinets as Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco stood beside Harry who lay with his void eyes open, staring at the ceiling, unblinkingly. Both Nora and Hermione took one of his hands in theirs, a few tears rolling down their pale cheeks. Dumbledore arrived with a smoking goblet. He stood beside Harry and poured the liquid into his mouth before closing it. Harry did nothing for a few seconds and they all watched in fear, then he swallowed it. The others let out sighs of relief and watched as Harry's eyes closed and his breathing became calm.

"I gave him a dreamless sleeping potion," explained Dumbledore before calling out to no one in particular. A few seconds later a house-elf appeared with a pop.

"May Snowglobe be of service?" asked the house-elf in its high-pitched voice.

"I was hoping you would watch Harry for us while we go train outside on the Quidditch Pitch," said Dumbledore, while indicating to Harry who was sleeping peacefully. Snowglobe nodded.

"Of course I is watching Harry Potter, sir."

"Thank you. And warn me the instant he shows signs of waking up," said Dumbledore. Snowglobe nodded and then took a seat in one of the chairs by the beds. "Come, we will start practice on the Quidditch Pitch. Escaping those Bludgers will take your minds off of things," he told the other four students with a slight smile. Then he turned around and walked into the corridor outside the infirmary to wait as the four said their goodbyes.

Ron clapped Harry softly on the shoulder, muttered: "Good luck, mate," and then turned around and headed for Dumbledore. Draco put a hand on Harry's arm, gave a forced smile and then walked after Ron. Both Nora and Hermione gave the hand they were holding a kiss. Nora said quietly: "Hope you get better soon," and then walked off after the other two while Hermione brushed the clammy hair away from Harry's forehead. She traced the now clearly visible scar with a finger. "Who would've known such a little scar can give you so much trouble… and nearly kill you," she muttered. "Get well quickly." And then she too walked into the corridor outside of the infirmary.

"Today's training will be the same as the day before yesterday: I will shoot Bludgers at you four and all you have to do is avoid them," explained Dumbledore as they crossed the clearing in front of the castle towards the Quidditch Pitch. The rest of the walk was spent in silence while rumbling could be heard overhead, occasionally a few raindrops would fall. They grabbed their brooms in silence too and walked onto the Quidditch Pitch as another few raindrops fell.

"On my whistle you will kick off of the ground and training will start," said Dumbledore, breaking the stillness. The others nodded and when Dumbledore's shrill whistle pierced the air the four of them kicked off from the ground. When they were high enough they turned around so they could at least see when a Bludger was near before avoiding it. Hermione had begun to shriek again whenever a Bludger would approach, still trying to get used to flying and having large balls being pelted at her. The normal Sloth Grip Rolls avoided the first Bludgers but soon the students had to go to the extreme to avoid being hit.

Draco was still hanging upside down on his broom, his legs clutching the wood tightly, when he had to avoid even more Bludgers before having time to sit back upright. So for a few minutes he was flying around upside down, which was very hard to do, before he had to get out of the way of a Bludger meant for Ron and was finally able to let some blood stream out of his head. Ron had gotten slightly nauseous from all of the loops, spins and twirls he was making to stay clear of the Bludgers. If he went on like that he'd have to stop and throw up, he was sure. Nora wasn't doing much better than Draco and Ron; she, too, was going to extremes as so not to get hit by the Bludgers. She had even taken up to swearing whenever she had to swerve out of a Bludger's way and felt that if Dumbledore didn't ease up on them soon, she'd burst and just stop training. Hermione, though still anxious on her Firebolt, was loosening up a lot faster than she had done last training, but she still felt that there had to be another way to practice this instead of in the air with Bludgers that could cause some serious damage. To make things worse, rain began to pour and within minutes they were completely soaked.

Draco was in the middle of hanging upside down again when Dumbledore's penetrating whistle rang through the air and he scrambled back upright on his broom. He and the others flew over to their Headmaster, feeling slightly queasy. Only then did they notice that Dumbledore was holding a green glowing piece of parchment.

"Snowglobe has just sent this saying Harry is waking up. I will go immediately to check up on him. It is now quarter past one, you four are free to do whatever you like," Dumbledore told them, then he flew straight to the ground, hopped off his broom and vanished. The other four made their way to the earth a bit calmer, all feeling immensely relieved Harry was waking up; they had feared he wouldn't. From then on they were filled with some joy again.

"Well, that certainly was a tiring training session," said Hermione as the four of them walked out into the clearing in front of the castle, rain falling down upon them.

"Definitely," groaned Ron. "What should we do now?"

"Well, we can't do anything outside; it's raining so heavily I feel like someone's continuously emptying a bucket full of water over my head," replied Draco.

"Oh, don't be such a killjoy. Rain is FUN. Come on, let's _frolic_!" exclaimed Nora. Draco looked at her with an expression that clearly said he did not _frolic_, but before he could stop her, she had grabbed his arm and started pirouetting around in the rain with him, her laughs echoing around them.

"I never knew you were such a rain person," Draco told her as she spun around, her now wet hair flying around her, launching droplets of water at her surroundings.

"Well, now you do," she replied, positively radiant with energy she seemed to be receiving from the rain. Just moments before she had complained that she was so exhausted she could just fall asleep right then and there. Draco seemed to be thinking along those same lines.

"I thought you were so exhausted moments before?" he asked, stopping still.

"Well, now I'm not. Come on! Dance with me!" exclaimed Nora as she grabbed his hands again and began twirling around. Hermione and Ron stood off to the side, wondering what on earth happened to their friend.

"Is this normal behavior?" Draco asked Hermione as he spun faster and faster with Nora. Hermione laughed, it, too, echoing all around them.

"Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't," she replied. "She's filled with mysteries even I haven't been able to uncover yet."

"Ah, well then I shouldn't be worried, should I?" Hermione shook her head, laughing again.

"No, you shouldn't." she replied, watching Nora frolic in the heavy downpour, dragging Draco along with her. Just then Ron pranced by her, deciding to have a bit of fun in the rain too. Hermione sighed and ran over to her other three friends, knowing she'd regret it if she didn't have some fun too. So now the four of them were playing in the pouring rain as if they were six, seven instead of sixteen, seventeen. Both Hermione and Nora were laughing happily and it seemed to bounce off of everything, allowing it to echo around them magically. Ron and Draco smiled at them, chuckling every so often.

Nora and Hermione suddenly ran off, their long wet hair flying behind them. The two girls stopped still and then began twirling around, their arms stretched out like wings, giggling as if they really were little girls instead of the women they were growing up to be. Ron and Draco walked over, watching with amusement.

"We always used to do this when we were little children," Hermione told them. "We'd sneak out of the house and twirl in the rain until our parents caught us." A flash of lightning streaked across the sky, lighting the faces of the girls and they looked younger than they ever had in the past six months. Carefree fun always makes you younger… always. Another flash of lightning streaked across the thunderous sky and Ron and Draco were dragged back to reality.

"Come on. We'd better get inside before you two catch pneumonia or something," said Ron as he grabbed Hermione and pulled her towards the castle. Hermione gave another mirthful laugh that echoed straight back to them as she looked upwards, watching the raindrops fall. Draco took Nora's hand and began walking towards the castle. Nora, too, looked up and gave a jovial laugh that Draco hadn't heard in what seemed like eternity, which was actually only a week or so ago, when they had landed in the Entrance Hall of the Concave Castle.

"Party pooper," said Nora when she turned to look at Draco. He laughed at her childishness.

"So what if I am. It's for your own good. We don't want you to get sick, do we?"

"I suppose not," agreed Nora. "But you're still a spoilsport." Draco laughed again. "You haven't laughed like that since… ever," whispered Nora, though it was still loud enough to be heard, even over the constant rumblings of the thunderous sky.

"Neither have you," whispered Draco as he let go of her hand, feeling that she wouldn't run off to dance in the rain anymore.

"I have too. I've laughed like that when we just arrived here. Remember? On the cold floor," replied Nora.

"Oh, yes. The cold floor, how could I _ever_ forget," said Draco sarcastically, but there was a little perverted smile on his face at the memory of it.

"Yes, and that is the exact same smile you gave me when you wouldn't get off of me," said Nora, pointing at him.

"Why, so it is."

"Why haven't you ever laughed like that before? It makes a real difference, you know," and she was back to whispering. Draco shrugged.

"My father. I was never allowed to laugh or play when my father was around when I was little, so I guess I got used to it and never laughed anymore, just the sleazy grins, smirks and sneers all Slytherins wore," he replied simply, shrugging again. "I don't think I've really laughed like this since I was about five. I never thought I ever would, either."

"Well, rain has healing powers," Nora told him as she looked up again and tried to catch a few raindrops on her tongue.

(_A/N_: Wow, the crap I can come up with. It's almost ridiculous.)

"And then, when Nymphirah was murdered, I almost knew I'd never smile again. No one in the world would've been able to get a real sincere smile from me ever again."

"… Except me."

"Except you, yes." Draco absentmindedly put his hand in his pocket and froze still.

"What?" asked Nora, seeing the horrified look on his face. Hermione and Ron were already entering the castle and they were just a few feet away, still standing motionless in the pouring rain.

"I've lost it," replied Draco.

"Oh, come on. You're as sane as I am… which might not be too much comfort," Nora added as an afterthought.

"No, I've lost my picture of her. I've lost it! Maybe it's in the Quidditch Pitch. Maybe it fell out of my pocket when I was dangling upside down," said Draco and he turned around and ran.

"Draco! Come back! You'll get sick!" Nora called after him, but he did not turn around. Then it struck her that she had the picture. That she had picked it up when it had fallen out of his pocket this morning. Nora began sprinting as fast as she could towards Draco, calling out all the while. "Draco! Stop! I have it! I have your picture of her! Of Nymphirah!" finally Draco stopped and turned around. When Nora caught up with him she took the picture of the beautiful girl out of her pocket and handed it to him while trying to catch her breath.

"How on earth did you get it?" asked Draco while carefully pocketing the piece of parchment.

"It fell out of your pocket this morning when you were running to show the way to Dumbledore's office, so I picked it up and was going to give it to you later, after Harry was dealt with, but I forgot to give it." A relieved look spread over Draco's face.

"Thanks," he replied, his soaking hair falling over his eyes. He brushed it away impatiently. "I don't know what I would've done if I'd have lost this, too."

"You're welcome. See, isn't this fun? Standing in the rain?" she asked and then began twirling again. Draco laughed at her childishness again before taking her hand and running towards the castle with her, saying:

"We really are going to get sick, you know."

"At least we had fun," came Nora's reply. Draco smiled. It was true. At least they had fun while getting sick, instead of wrapping themselves in warm clothes and then still falling ill, which _always_ happened. They finally reached the castle and burst into the Entrance Hall where Hermione and Ron were waiting for them.

"What happened to you? I thought you guys were right behind us?" demanded Hermione.

"It's my fault," replied Nora. Draco looked away. He hoped she wouldn't mention Nymphirah's picture. Sure, he had told _her_ about it, but that was about all he could take. Besides, he had known Nora a lot longer and a lot better than Hermione and Ron. "I broke away and began frolicking in the rain again," finished Nora with an impish grin. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Can we eat now?" whined Ron, as he tugged on Hermione's arm.

"Yes, we're all here now. We can go eat." Ron did a little jig and then ran into the Dining Room where food was already waiting for them. "Goody!" he shouted as he sat down and began piling food on his plate. The others joined him, though much calmer, and a late lunch began.

"Playing in the rain is fun," said Nora while gazing outside.

"Uh-huh. You know, I haven't danced in the rain since I began Hogwarts," said Hermione thoughtfully.

"I've never danced in the rain up until now," said Ron and Draco together,.

"It's not so much dancing as it is… playing," Nora told them, thinking it'd be stupid to _dance_ in the rain. "I _played_ in the rain at least a couple of times every year."

"Really? Even when you began Hogwarts?" asked Hermione.

"Yup."

"Even while you were AT Hogwarts?"

"Yup."

"What? How come I never saw you?" asked Hermione.

"Well, you were either surrounded by dozens of books and you didn't notice or you were studying and you didn't notice either," replied Nora.

"Wait, so whenever you were going to visit Hagrid on your own in the rain, you were actually just dancing around?" asked Ron. Nora grinned.

"No, playing. But yes. And I did visit Hagrid, too," she added.

"Or whenever you said you were going to take a walk in the castle when it rained, you were actually just prancing around in it?" questioned Hermione. Nora nodded again, her grin growing larger as she thought back to those times.

"Or whenever you said you wanted to make out in a rainstorm but then kept running away in it?" asked Draco, a smirk on his face. Nora blushed a little.

"Yes, but we always eventually did make out in the rain, after I was done playing around," she replied. Ron spit out his food, spraying it over the table, complaining about a 'mental image' and how it was burned onto his eyes.

"Oh, calm down, Ron," said Hermione, while Ron was savagely rubbing his eyes, groaning. It was then that Dumbledore entered.

"Harry has fully waken up now and has snapped out of his little 'daze.' He told me all about the nightmare Voldemort gave him and I would advise you to ask nothing more about it, as it is still a sensitive subject," he told the four eagerly listening students.

"What was the nightmare about, sir?" asked Hermione.

"His parents. He dreamed about how is parents were murdered by Voldemort, which caused him severe pain, physically and emotionally," Dumbledore told them.

"Can we visit him?" asked Ron. Dumbledore smiled.

"Yes you can. I will lead the way." and so the five of them walked through the Concave Castle heading for the small infirmary. When they entered they saw that Snowglobe was still sitting next to Harry, but Harry himself was sitting up in his bed. His face and eyes lit up when he saw his friends enter. Hermione, Nora and Ron rushed over to him immediately while Draco stayed a little behind.

"Oh, I was so worried! I thought you'd died!" exclaimed Hermione as she gave Harry a tight hug. Harry cracked a smile.

"I _will_ die if you don't let me breathe soon, 'Mione," he replied, trying hard to get some air into his lungs. Hermione let go, blushing.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"That's all right," replied Harry, smiling. But before he could fully catch his breath again Nora had thrown herself onto him in a hug as tight as Hermione's, though she let go a bit earlier.

"Don't you dare scare us like that again, will you?" she exclaimed, pointing a threatening finger at him.

"Let it go," Ron muttered to Harry when he was about to reply. Harry closed his mouth. Ron clapped him on the shoulder.

"Glad you're back, mate," he said, beaming.

"I'll be leaving you alone now. I still have some business to attend to," Dumbledore told them before leaving the infirmary. The other four each grabbed a chair and Hermione and Nora sat on Harry's right side while Ron and Draco sat on Harry's left.

"So, what did you guys do today?" asked Harry.

"Well, we had another training session in the Quidditch Pitch," said Ron. At seeing Harry's disappointed face that he hadn't been there, he added: "But it wasn't that great. Just avoiding Bludgers again."

"Yes, it was very exhausting. And then when we were finished with training we were held up in the pouring rain because Nora wanted to go frolic around in it," Hermione told him, smiling.

"You still do that?" Harry asked Nora, who grinned and nodded. "I remember in the beginning of this year, you dragged me out into the rain and started gamboling around in it," he said thoughtfully. Just then Nora shouted:

"Balcony!" jumped out of her chair, opened the two doors that led to the balcony and ran outside. She looked up and let out a soft: "ooooh." The others laughed. It was a phenomenon how this girl could be a woman at one time and a few seconds later a little child.

"I'm on it," said Draco and he got up and walked out onto the rather large balcony that overlooked the clearing in front of the castle and the forest.

"Hi," said Nora happily. "Have you come to join me?" Draco smiled but shook his head.

"No, I haven't. I've come to take you inside. It's too dangerous for you to be dancing around in the rain now. Especially in your jeans and t-shirt," he told her but Nora grabbed his hands and began to spin around slowly and then faster and faster.

"Oh, come on, it's fun!" she exclaimed.

"You know, you'd think you were drugged or something," said Draco and his face became serious.

"I am not."

"How do you know?"

"I always act like this when I'm in the rain and really happy."

"Why are you really happy?"

"Harry's all right and it's raining!" she exclaimed while twirling around some more.

"Look, you're going to get ill if you don't come in soon."

"So?"

"If you don't come in on your own I'll bring you inside by myself." Nora smiled at him but continued to twirl around like a little child. "You asked for it." And with that Draco picked her up in one swift motion so that she was lying in his arms.

"Hmmm… How to get out of this one," said Nora thoughtfully, while looking around her, trying to think of ways to free herself.

"Oh no you don't," said Draco and he marched inside. Nora folded her arms and pouted.

Harry watched as Draco stepped out onto the balcony and Nora asked him something. He saw Draco shake his head, reply and point inside. Then he saw Nora grab his hands and include him in her twirling. He watched as they had a serious conversation while spinning around and saw that Draco broke free of it and said something else. He watched Nora look at Draco but continue twirling and then saw Draco pick her up in his arms.

"You see it now, don't you?" asked Hermione quietly as she leaned forward to Harry and Ron. Harry sighed.

"Yes, I do," he replied, frowning in slight frustration, but Ron looked confused.

"See what?" he asked.

"That they should be together," answered Hermione impatiently.

"Oh."

"Do you see it?" she asked, a bit threateningly.

"Yes," replied Ron as Draco marched inside, Nora pouting in his arms. He put her in her chair and then walked around Harry's bed to sit in his own.

"We should put a leash on her. You know, prevent her from running away into the rain all the time," Draco told the others. They laughed and looked at Nora, who was gazing longingly outside.

"You know, maybe we should," said Ron seriously. Nora glared at him, though playfully, and then took to staring outside again. Then… she sneezed.

"There you have it," said Draco. "You're ill." Nora shook her head but sneezed again. "Yes you are." Nora shook her head again, followed by yet another sneeze. "Deny it all you want but you're ill."

"At least we're going to have nice weather tomorrow," said Hermione happily. The others looked at her in confusion. "She sneezed three times in a row. That means we'll have nice weather tomorrow," she explained with an air of no-I-am-not-crazy.

"I don't want to be sick," pouted Nora.

"Well then you shouldn't have been so stupid as to run around in the rain," said Ron.

"'Mione, can't you make a potion or something that'll make me better?" Begged Nora. "Please? You're so smart, the smartest in our year, I know you can do it." A bit of flattery couldn't hurt.

"I could but I'm going to need a lot of ingredients and a helping hand from the others couldn't hurt either," she added, looking at Ron and Draco.

"I'll help. I've made a Pepperup Potion many times before. For my sister," said Draco.

"Good. First we'll get all the ingredients and prepare them. Then we'll start making the potion," said Hermione, smiling at the thought of brewing a complicated potion again. "And you! Stay away from the rain!" she added threateningly to Nora. Nora sat down in her chair beside Harry, folded her arms on his bed and laid the right side of her head on them so she was facing Harry. Hermione smiled and then ordered Ron and Draco to follow her and search for the ingredients she'd need. Harry raised a hand and stroked Nora's hair.

"I miss them. My parents. I never knew them, but I miss them so much," said Harry.

"I know you do," replied Nora, her eyes closed in weary exhaustion. "I know you do."

"Sometimes I wonder what life would've been like if they hadn't been murdered. If Voldemort hadn't existed." Harry closed his eyes wearily.

"It would certainly be a lot better than this," came Nora's reply.

"Do you still miss him?" asked Harry, knowing she had referred to Dean.

"Yes. But sometimes I completely forget it ever happened and then, when I realize it, I feel terrible."

"Yeah. Sometimes I forget Sirius died and then I feel awful for forgetting about him. Or I completely forget he ever lived at all." The two remained silent for a while, drowned in their own thoughts, when Nora sneezed again.

"He warned you, you know. That you'd get sick," said Harry.

"I know. It's bizarre. It feels like the rain is calling me to come out. I think I get all my energy from the rain. I mean, inside I feel completely exhausted from the previous training, but when I'm out in the rain I'm simply bursting with energy… My mood swings are getting out of control," said Nora.

"Yes, well you _are_ strange," Harry told her, while still stroking her hair, about the only thing he could do. Nora smiled, though she kept her eyes closed.

"Tell me about it." Then she and Harry dozed off out of pure exhaustion.

"So now we cut up the mandrake roots while we let the flobberworm mucus boil in the cauldron," said Hermione happily as she began chopping up the Dragon liver. The three of them worked for a full two hours on the potion for Nora, while she and Harry slept.

* * *

"Wake up, Nora. Wake up," whispered Hermione as she gently shook her friend. Nora sat up straight and rubbed her eyes sleepily. "Finally," muttered Hermione.

"Ugh. My dose is all glogged up," said Nora as she grimaced. "I hade having a gold," she added.

"Well, you better cheer up; your potion is ready," Hermione told her. Nora's face lit up, though she shivered a bit.

"Really? Is id really ready?" she asked.

"Yup. Here. But Draco says it'll taste really foul," warned Hermione. Nora took the steaming goblet and poured the brownish liquid into her mouth. She pulled a face and swallowed the stuff with extreme difficulty.

"Eew, gross," she said while handing the empty goblet to Hermione. At first nothing happened, and Nora was about to pout, yet again, when a warm feeling spread through her body and her nose began to unclog.

"And?" asked Hermione, hoping they had gotten the potion right and not just simply poisoned their friend.

"It worked," said Nora happily. She looked outside and was glad to see that it had finally stopped raining and cleared up a bit; now she wouldn't be tempted to go outside again.

"Thank Merlin. But keep it down; Harry's still asleep," said Hermione. As if on cue, Harry gave a loud snore. Ron and Draco walked over, after having cleaned everything up, and Nora gave each of them a hug, glad she had gotten rid of her cold. Then she calmed down and sat next to Harry, not knowing what else to do. The others followed her example and sat down in their chairs, too, just watching Harry sleep ever so peacefully.

* * *

_A/N_: Longer than I had expected it to be. Yay. I guess I owe it to you; the previous chapters were a little on the short side. Hope you liked it. Now I'm going to get back to my revision and studying. One question: is it annoying when I put song lyrics in my chapters? 


	35. A Form of Apparition

_A/N_: This chapter is really, really, really long, so I hope you've got plenty of time to read it all.

**Chapter 35: A Form of Apparition**

Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco sat around Harry's bed, just watching him sleep peacefully. They hardly talked, it might wake Harry up, and when a word was spoken, it was in a soft whisper that they could barely hear. Harry gave a grunt and rolled over onto his side in his sleep when Dumbledore entered the room. The old man walked over to the four students who where sitting quietly around the sleeping boy, looking at him expectantly.

"Ah, I see Harry is still asleep," said Dumbledore as he smiled upon them all. "Good, good. He needs the rest. Now, I fear I have some slight unfortunate news." He saw the happy looks on the students' faces falter as their eyes darted towards Harry and back to him. "It has nothing to do with Harry. This concerns Draco."

"What?" Draco blurted, before clapping his hands quickly over his mouth and glancing at Harry, checking to see if he was still asleep.

"I am afraid it is rather serious, but I am not sure if it really will occur," Dumbledore told Draco.

"What is it?" he asked resolutely.

"Voldemort has ultimately found out that you, as well as Harry, possess the power to annihilate him," began Dumbledore. Draco watched him intently, fearing the worst. Hermione, Nora and Ron were all keeping very quiet. "I assume he is going to try and… ruin you with the same tactic he used on Harry. Voldemort does not yet know he failed to drive Harry into insanity so I daresay he will attack you with a nightmare as well." In the uncomfortable silence that followed, everyone watched Harry sleeping, watched his chest rise and fall in a slow, steady rhythm under the covers.

"Does that mean I'll go insane when I've had the nightmare?" asked Draco finally, breaking the silence. Nora, Hermione and Ron held their breaths, waiting for Dumbledore to answer.

"Not necessarily. All you need to survive the insanity that follows are your friends. They need to be with you when you wake up and they need to distract you from the thoughts that will run through your head. Their presence is all you need to overcome it," Dumbledore told him. Draco looked outside where the sky was still thunderous, even hours after the downpour in which Nora had danced so blissfully… Nora. Would he ever see her again? What if he wasn't distracted enough after the nightmare and he was dragged into insanity? Would she know how much he loved her?

* * *

_A/N_: urgh. Writers block totally kicked in.

* * *

Draco was so consumed in his own thoughts that the voices of the others were drowned out as he stared at the still sleeping Harry. Draco wished he could wake him up; ask him what it was like to be on the verge of lunacy, if he knew what was happening to him when he had woken up from the nightmare.

"Draco. Draco? Draaacooo." Draco looked up, dragged out of his morbid thoughts by Nora's voice.

"What?" He asked, his voice a little hoarse.

"Are you coming to dinner with us?" asked Nora, looking at him as if she knew what he had been thinking moments before.

"Well, I'm not that hungry. I might join later, but don't count on it; I had a rather large lunch," replied Draco, not really looking into her eyes; afraid she'd see right through him if he did.

"All right, then," said Nora and she turned around to join the others, who were waiting in the hall. Draco looked at Harry, who was still sleeping serenely, and heaved a great sigh. He would not admit it to any one, but he was afraid. Afraid of losing his sanity, afraid of not being able live any further than age seventeen, afraid he may never see his friends again and afraid he would know he was insane but not be able to do anything about it. He heaved another sigh, took one last glance at Harry, and then stepped out onto the balcony that overlooked the meadow and the forest, the cool wind sweeping past him, blowing a few leaves past in the process. Draco closed his eyes, tilted his head back so he was facing the sky and spread his arms out like Nora had done so many times that day. Now he finally realized why she liked being in the rain so much. It was as if all of your troubles floated away as you listened to the sounds outside. He could hear the threatening rumbles of the sky, felt a raindrop fall on his forehead and heard the wind howling as it passed him.

"Planning on jumping?" Draco immediately lowered his arms and snapped his head to the right where Harry stood, overlooking the clearing in front of them.

"I thought you were asleep?" said Draco, not answering Harry's question.

"Nah, I woke up when Dumbledore entered. He may be really silent, but all that energy around him is enough to wake up all of Hogwarts," replied Harry, still looking ahead of him, watching a pair of birds fly underneath the darkened sky.

"Oh," was all Draco could say in return.

"So, planning on jumping?"

"No."

"Planning on killing yourself in any other way?"

"No."

"Hungry?"

"No." Draco's stomach gave a loud growl as if proving him otherwise. Harry smiled while still staring out ahead of him.

"Cold?"

"No." Draco didn't really know why Harry was asking those questions, or why he was answering them for that matter, his mouth just replied without really thinking.

"Having fun?"

"No."

"Scared?"

"Petrified." The two of them just stared ahead, watching the overcast sky, feeling the wind brush past them, howling and whistling. For some reason, Draco did not mind talking to Harry. In less than a second, rain came pouring down from the sky as heavy as earlier that day, but neither of the boys moved and they continued watching whatever was in front of them.

"About to wet your pants?"

"Crap in 'em, more like." Both of them chuckled.

"Nauseous?"

"Yes."

"On the verge of a mental breakdown even before our Voldie gets a chance?"

"Yes."

"Unable to move?"

"Yes."

"Which would clarify why we're still standing in the pouring rain. Exhausted?

"Yes." There seemed to be a slight second before Harry continued his inquiry.

"Love her?"

"With all my heart."

… Silence…

"I know you're afraid of going insane after your nightmare, but don't worry, none of us will let it happen," said Harry, finally turning to look at Draco.

"What if it doesn't work? What if I slip into insanity anyway?" asked Draco, facing Harry, fear very clear in his voice and eyes.

"Well, then I will personally shake you around and scream at you at the top of my lungs until you're back to normal," replied Harry. Draco cracked a slight smile, but it vanished almost immediately.

"Hell, I'd even let you hit me with a Troll's club if it keeps me sane," he said grimly, watching the rain pour out of the gloomy sky.

"Really? Wow, I'll go find a Troll right this instant. Say, can I practice a bit on you right now, just so I can get the hang of it?" said Harry with an over-enthusiastic voice. Draco chuckled as he sat himself on the floor and stared through two iron bars of the railing at the rain falling on a dark blue lake far, far away. Harry did the same and the two of them sat in comfortable silence.

"Ahem," someone standing in the door opening to the balcony cleared his or her throat. Harry and Draco snapped their heads to look in the glowering face of Nora, who had her arms crossed and was tapping her foot. "You order me to go inside before I get ill but then you go sit around in the rain yourself! WITH HARRY, WHO WAS NEARLY DRIVEN INTO INSANITY? HAVEN'T YOU TWO GOT ANY COMMON SENSE?" She stepped out onto the balcony and added, after the first drops of rain reached her, "Ooooh, rain!" she walked to the middle of the balcony, raised her head with her eyes closed and smiled, letting the rain pour on her face and down her body.

"AHEM!" someone standing in the door opening to the balcony cleared his or her throat. Harry and Draco snapped their heads to look in the glowering face of Hermione, who had her arms crossed and was tapping her foot as Nora had done only minutes before. "You order us inside before we get ill but then you go sit around in the rain yourself! WITH HARRY, WHO WAS NEARLY DRIVEN INTO INSANTIY! AND NORA, WHO ALREADY HAD A HARD TIME STAYING OUT OF THE RAIN WHEN SHE WAS FINALLY INSIDE! NOW SHE'LL NEVER WANT TO GO BACK IN! HAVEN'T YOU ANY COMMON SENSE?" Shrieked Hermione in a high-pitched voice, scolding them almost exactly like Nora had done. Harry and Draco looked down in shame, but Nora had taken no notice of Hermione's words, it seemed like she didn't even know Hermione was there at all.

"Let's go inside," muttered Harry to Draco who nodded. They both stood up and were about to walk past Hermione when she held out both hands in front of her, ordering them to stop.

"Oh no, you don't. You two got her into this mess and you're not leaving me to drag her back inside," she told them, indicating to Nora. Then she turned around and went inside, waiting for the two boys to bring Nora back in.

"Erm… let's ask her first, see how weird she's gotten so far," said Harry and he walked up to Nora. "Nora? Let's go back inside." But Nora took no notice and watched the rain pour down upon the country stretching out before her, her eyes round and shimmering. Harry and Draco each took an arm and tried to drag her inside, but Nora pried herself loose and leaned her hands on the banister of the balcony, watching the countryside in interest, her eyes moving every which way, examining everything.

"All right. I've had enough," said Draco and he picked her up and carried her inside, setting her on her feet next to Hermione. Harry closed the balcony doors shut and guarded it, preventing Nora to go back outside.

"Hmpf," said Nora as she pouted and crossed her arms. Then she walked off with Hermione to Merlin knows where.

"We really should get a leash on her," muttered Draco. Harry nodded while checking his watch. Butterflies fluttered in Draco's stomach as he asked, "What time is it?"

"Nearly seven o'clock," replied Harry. "About four hours 'till you go to sleep. But don't worry; we're all going to be there. I'll personally sit by your bed every second while you sleep. Come on, let's go get some grub," finished Harry and he dragged Draco out of the infirmary and towards the kitchen's, of which neither of them had a clue where it was.

Finally, after asking many, _many_ paintings where the kitchen was, they found it, hidden behind a painting of a turkey dinner. You had poke the delicious looking turkey, which would then get up and run away screaming, revealing a doorknob. It was pretty much the same idea as in Hogwarts. Harry and Draco entered the gleaming white kitchen, which smelled of all sorts of delicious foods. A house-elf walked up to them wearing a sparkling white pillowcase and little shoes.

"At least the house-elves are being treated right," muttered Draco, a hint of bitterness in his voice that Voldemort had to go and ruin his life.

"Yeah, looks like Dumbledore joined S.P.E.W. or something."

"What is sirs liking?" asked the house-elf kindly.

"Well, we were kind of hoping that we could get some dinner, since we missed it," said Harry. The house-elf bowed and immediately four or five others came hurrying over with all sorts of filled plates. They placed them on a table in the corner, added two chairs and then dragged Harry and Draco over to it.

"Enjoying your meals, sirs!" squeaked the house-elves before bowing and continuing their work.

"Thanks," replied Harry and Draco. They each took a seat and began eating.

"So you _were_ hungry," said Harry, smiling. Draco chuckled.

"Yes, I was, but the nausea covered it up," he replied, feeling a bit more uncomfortable. He was reminded of the last question Harry had asked. "Love her?" He had replied "With all my heart," without even thinking the question over, without knowing what Harry had meant. Guessing, by Harry's silence he was thinking about it, too, but Draco wished he wouldn't begin about it. The two of them chewed their food slowly, thinking the question and reply over.

"You do love her, then?" asked Harry after a long unpleasant silence. Draco gave a heavy sigh, before nodding, avoiding all eye contact with Harry. Harry gave a sigh too and then said: "I'm terribly sorry for overreacting when I saw you two in the hall, when we first landed in this castle. I shouldn't have. I already knew you weren't a bad guy and I still blew my top."

"It's not your fault. It must've been pretty shocking. Slytherin enemy since first year making out with Gryffindor best friend since first year… I don't think you overreacted at all, come to think of it," said Draco. He ate the last piece of his steak and a house-elf immediately came over to take his plate away.

"Well, I still think I could've been a bit calmer. Nora had already told us over the year you weren't really evil, that it was just an act. I guess I didn't want to believe it…" Harry finished his dinner, too, and another house-elf came to take his plate away.

"Don't worry about it. We can't change the past," said Draco as they both got up and made to exit the kitchens.

"Unfortunately," said Harry as a bunch of house-elves ran up to them and shoved all sorts of sweets in their hands. Harry and Draco keenly accepted the extra food and exited the kitchens.

"What time is it now?" asked Draco, butterflies fluttering again out of nervousness.

"A bit past eight thirty," replied Harry. "Nervous?" he then asked, seeing the look on Draco's face.

"Every second adds another butterfly to my stomach," answered Draco grimly as they entered the marble and gold Entrance Hall.

"What shall we do now?" asked Harry. Draco shrugged.

"I don't really care, as long as we don't go to sleep," he replied.

"Should we go sit in the living room?" suggested Harry. Draco shrugged again, which Harry took as a yes. They walked up the staircase and finally reached the right landing. Upon entering the living room, they saw it was empty and wondered where the other three were. The large, merrily crackling fire welcomed them in and they both walked up the front and took a seat in one of the comfortable chairs facing each other. Silence followed, which was broken only by the cheerful pops and crackles coming from the fireplace as it warmed its surroundings.

The two boys sat in silence, staring at the welcoming fire. Outside, it had begun raining again and the gentle 'tap, tap' of raindrops hitting the windows added to the joyous pops and crackles coming from the fire. It was half an hour later that Draco broke the peaceful silence.

"What time is it now?" he asked, looking up to watch Harry, who checked his watch.

"Nine o'clock"

"Oh." For the next fifteen minutes they sat in silence again, both dreading the moment when Draco would go to sleep. Their thoughts were interrupted when Ron, Nora and Hermione entered the room, Ron looking incredibly pleased to see Harry and Draco.

"Don't leave me alone with those two ever again… _ever_," he told them, jabbing his thumb in Nora and Hermione's direction.

"Oh, come on. We're not that bad," argued Hermione, a bit offended.

"Yes, you are," replied Ron, wide-eyed. "All you two talk about is… is… girl stuff!"

"Well, what do you expect, Ron? We _are_ female, in case you haven't noticed," said Nora, crossing her arms.

"I have too noticed!" said Ron, though it did look as though someone had told him a fact he once knew, but had long forgotten. "I just didn't really expect you two to be so girlish. I mean, you, Hermione, you're always reading some book and being all intellectual, and yet you were going on and on about how you missed Terry and wished you could see him. And you, Nora, you play Quidditch and read more books than me and Harry have together, and you just do NOT stop talking about… rain and your mood swings," he finished, a bit disbelievingly. Both Nora and Hermione huffed.

"I did not go on and on about Terry," argued Hermione faintly at the same time that Nora quietly said "I only talked about rain for like five minutes." Harry and Draco chuckled, watching the girls blush as they looked at the carpet. Hearing the chuckles, they both snapped their heads up, murderous looks on their faces.

"What's so funny? You, Harry, can only talk about either Voldemort or Quidditch, it's enough to drive anyone insane," said Nora, glaring. Harry stopped laughing. He looked at her in disbelief, wondering why he was suddenly under attack, before glaring at her in return.

"And you, Draco, you can only talk about Quidditch, too. You'd think that is the only thing programmed into your brain," snapped Hermione, glowering, wiping the grin off of Draco's face as he returned the scowl. Ron stood in between the four, Harry and Draco by the fireplace, Nora and Hermione by the door opening, looking quite smug with himself. The other four slowly turned their heads to look at him and his smirk vanished almost instantly as he gulped. Harry, Nora, Hermione and Draco began shouting all sorts of things at Ron that he did that annoyed them, which was quite a lot to be honest, and the gangly red head cowered in a corner as more and more insults filled with his annoyances made their way to him.

After about fifteen minutes or so the five of them had finally stopped shouting at each other and calmed down somewhat, Harry and Draco still in their seats, Nora and Hermione still near the door opening and Ron still cowering by the bookcase.

"Huh," said Nora. The others looked at her, wondering what she meant. "I don't believe this has _ever_ happened before. All of us arguing with each other."

"Yes. This must be the first time we've ever bickered like this: everyone against everyone…" said Hermione. Harry, Ron and Draco thought it over for a second before nodding their agreement. It remained silent for a bit, nobody moving from his or her spot.

"So what should we do now?" asked Nora cheerfully after a minute, walking over to the fire and seating herself on the couch. The others were taken a bit by surprise by this sudden cheerfulness after they had all just quarreled, but they recovered soon and Ron and Hermione joined the others by the fireplace.

"I dunno," replied Harry.

"You know what I regret?" asked Hermione quietly after a few minutes of silence. The others looked at her, but said nothing, sensing the remorse in her tone. "That it's just us here. No offense, of course."

"None taken," said Ron promptly.

"I mean, in Hogwarts there were hundreds of students and you could always talk with anyone. The common room was always full of laughter and noise. If we wanted to play a game, like truth or dare, everyone would be happy to join in and it would really be fun. Here it's just us. I've talked to you guys a million times already. It's always dead silent in this castle and we can't play any games because we already know everything about each other and we can't dare anyone to do something with someone else because we're all good friends and it'd be awkward." Hermione sighed, and closed her eyes. After a few seconds she opened them and continued. "I wish we could go back to Hogwarts, see our other friends again, be amidst the oblivious laughter of students who are unaware of the dangers."

"Yeah. It's not fun here anymore. In Hogwarts there's always a few students playing a prank at every part of the day, you're always in for something new," agreed Ron. The others nodded, knowing the feeling all too well.

"In Hogwarts there were always enough distractions to take your mind off of the inevitable," Draco told them.

"I'm actually missing the amounts of homework we used to get," said Nora. Hermione nodded but the guys looked at her as if she was mad. Nora just shrugged it off. So the rest of the evening was spent listing all of the things they missed about Hogwarts and how they wished they could go back to the familiar castle, or go back to the days when they hadn't known of their 'powers' and when those murders hadn't occurred. Needless to say, it wasn't a very happy evening and there was a lot of tension and sorrow in air, though no one mentioned it.

"I see you're all having a nice time using this living room," said Dumbledore in his calm voice as he entered the room. The five students turned to look at him and Draco involuntarily glanced at Ron's watch. Ten thirty. Time to sleep. "I have come to collect you all and to bring you to Draco's bedroom," continued the old man, watching as four pairs of eyes shot towards Draco and back to him. "I will tell you my plan there," he added and walked out of the living room to enter Draco's bedroom. Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco followed slowly.

"Nervous?" whispered Harry as he and Draco entered the hall.

"I feel like I'm about to spit out butterflies," replied Draco, entering his room after Hermione. Dumbledore told them to sit on the bed and then he began to explain.

"As I have told you, I have a suspicion that Draco will have a nightmare, like Harry had, that could drive him into insanity. I have a few precautions that could make it a lot less worse than it can be. First of all, Draco will receive a dreamless sleep potion. I have no doubts that Voldemort will be able to break through it, but at least Draco will be well rested when his nightmare comes. Second of all, you four will stay here and watch him sleep and when he wakes up you do all you can to keep him sane. And third of all, you will all touch the Amulet of Era's as it will give you all more energy, it might help Draco fight the insanity off better and I'm sure you four will need all of the energy you can get to stay awake the whole night," finished Dumbledore. He then called an unknown name and a second later an elderly house-elf they had never seen before appeared with a smoking goblet in his hands. "This is the sleeping potion. Thank you, Grim." The old house-elf nodded and then vanished.

"Draco, you get changed into your pajama's and you're friends will give you the sleeping potion. I, unfortunately, cannot be here. My presence will only disturb everything. I wish you all good-luck." And with an encouraging smile Dumbledore left the room.

"What did he mean: 'My presence will only disturb everything?'" asked Ron, befuddled.

"He's too powerful. He emits too much power to be here; it would interfere with our job of keeping Draco away from insanity," answered Harry. "By the way, Draco, you'd better get changed."

"So, wait. We've got to do this all by ourselves?" said Ron in disbelief. "Isn't that a little… I dunno, risky?"

"It's even riskier if Dumbledore stays with us, quit whining," snapped Hermione. Ron glared at her but said nothing more. Draco went into his bathroom to change when Hermione exclaimed: "Oh wait, we've got to make a program. A schedule!"

"A what?" said Ron, gaping at her.

"A schedule. And we need some food, too, and maybe some coffee," added Hermione thoughtfully. She had begun fidgeting and looking around the room, hoping everything they needed was lying around somewhere. Unfortunately, it was not.

"All right. Ron and I will go get the food and coffee. You go search for some parchment, quill and ink to make the schedule and Nora will…" Harry trailed off, looking at Nora. What will she do? There was nothing left.

"And I will stay here," helped Nora.

"Right. Yes. You stay here and watch Draco. Prevent him from doing something stupid like killing himself. Let's go," he added to Ron and the two of them hurried out of room, towards the kitchen.

"I'll be back before you know it," said Hermione, then she exited the room as well in search for parchment, quill and ink to make a schedule, leaving Nora sitting in the middle of Draco's bed all by herself. A few seconds later the bathroom door opened and Draco walked out in his boxers. He looked around the room, a perplexed look on his face.

"How long was I in there?" he asked Nora, pointing to the bathroom. She smiled.

"Harry and Ron have gone to get some food and drinks from the kitchen and Hermione went to make a schedule of some sort. I stayed here to keep an eye on you," she replied.

"Ah, yes. Afraid I'll kill myself, are they?" Nora nodded.

"Yes. But I'm surprised you've stayed so calm with that hanging over your head. If it had been me I'd have cracked long ago and tried to jump out the first window I could find," she told him as he sat down on the bed, too.

"Well, get inside my head and you'll see total chaos. There's currently a siren going off and a voice yelling: 'Warning, warning. Evacuate immediately. Warning, warning,'" replied Draco glumly, feeling it was incredibly easy to talk to her, even after the disastrous fight they'd had.

"You have nothing to worry about. The others and I will do everything in our power to help you. We kept Harry sane, didn't we?" said Nora as she patted his arm reassuringly.

"I guess. It's just… the prospect of having a horrible nightmare that could drive you insane isn't exactly what I'd call fun."

"Yes, well like I said, you're handling this a lot better than I would've done. Now get into bed or you'll freeze before you even fall asleep," ordered Nora. Draco did as he was told and got under the covers while Nora got off the bed to close the curtains. Draco watched her stand on the tip of her toes to reach better, the ceiling was ten feet high after all, and smiled as she failed to close the drapes. Nora put her hands on her hips and glared at the curtains irritably.

"You are a witch, you know. Use your wand," advised Draco.

"Hmmm. Yes, that would be a lot easier. _Fermare_," she said as she pointed her wand at the drapes. Silently they slid closed and Nora beamed at her accomplishment before sitting cross-legged on Draco's bed again.

"Good job," Draco said in a voice people normally used for praising little kids. Nora glared at him.

"Why thank you. But I don't think I could have done it without you. That was a very useful bit of advice, you gave me," she told him sarcastically.

"For you it was. You couldn't even come up with it by yourself," shot Draco.

"I did, too. I was just trying it the Muggle way," argued Nora, crossing her arms.

"Uh-huh, right," Draco replied in a way that clearly said he knew otherwise.

"Fine, don't believe me."

"Fine, I won't." The two of them sat there, Draco sitting propped up against his pillows, Nora across from him, both of them acting like little children.

"I did too think of using a wand," muttered Nora after a few seconds, studying the wardrobe. Draco laughed. "I _did_," said Nora, looking at him.

"All right, all right. I believe you," he told her, raising his hands in surrender. Nora smiled a satisfied smile.

"Good," she said, still beaming. Draco on the other hand, had stopped chuckling and was now holding a hand on his stomach and leaning forward. "What? What is it?" asked Nora worriedly as she sat on her knees.

"I feel sick," was all Draco managed to say before he threw up on his covers. Nora quickly cast a scourgifying charm and Draco's dinner vanished instantly.

"Feel better?" she asked as she crawled over his bed and sat beside him to rub his back and try to comfort him a little. To both of their displeasure Draco shook his head and leaned forward again. Nora looked around the room, trying to find a bucket of some sort.

"I'm not even sick," whimpered Draco in a hoarse voice.

"I know you're not," replied Nora soothingly, still searching the room with her eyes for anything he could throw up in. She remembered Draco's last piece of advice, to use her wand, but she could not remember learning a spell that would transfigure anything into a bucket of some sort. "All right, you're going to have to keep retching on your bed spread," she told Draco, turning her attention back on him. Draco nodded and immediately obeyed by vomited on his covers. Nora cast another scrougifying charm and continued to rub his back, wondering what on earth could have triggered this vomiting.

Draco's breathing was now ragged and his face had turned rather pale. He groaned when he leaned forward again ready to throw up for the third time. Nora couldn't do much for him except rub his back, trying to make him feel a bit more comfortable. To her surprise Draco grabbed her hand with one of his when he retched again, but she held on to it, ignoring the slight uncomfortable feeling that had settled in her stomach.

"Feel better yet?" she asked while casting yet another scourgifying charm. Draco gave her what looked like a cross between a shrug and a nod, but it could have been something completely different as well.

After Draco had thrown up for the fourth time and he was sure there was no more need for vomiting he laid himself down in his bed feeling exhausted and pulled the covers up to his chin, though, completely unaware of it, he still held Nora's hand with one of his.

"Feel better?" she asked, after having cleaned up for the last time. Draco nodded faintly, his eyes closed, his breath still uneven. "Thank Merlin. I wish Hermione were here; then you could touch the Amulet-" began Nora, just as the door opened and Hermione entered. "Speaking of the devil," she muttered.

"I finished the schedule," Hermione panted as she waved a piece of parchment in the air. Her triumphant look changed when she saw Draco. "What happened?" she asked as she quietly closed the door.

"He got sick and retched four times," replied Nora.

"Poor thing," said Hermione as she sat down on the bed on the other side of Draco.

"So what did you make a schedule of?" questioned Nora, eyeing the piece of parchment in Hermione's hand.

"Of who's to stand guard, two at a time, replaced every hour, when to touch the Amulet, whenever you feel yourself getting tired, and when to eat, every hour. That sort of stuff," replied Hermione.

"And what do the others do when someone stands guard?"

"Read. Oh, right, books!" exclaimed Hermione. She jumped up and ran out of the room, the schedule clutched in her hand, leaving Nora looking a bit baffled at the suddenness.

"Books are really important to her, aren't they?" asked Draco hoarsely, his eyes still closed, his breathing still ragged. Nora laughed quietly and smiled at him.

"Yeah, pretty much. Feeling a bit better yet?"

"Yeah. But, honestly, I was rather surprised; I had expected butterflies to come flying out of my mouth," he replied. Nora chuckled, unthinkingly caressing Draco's hand lightly with her thumb.

"That nervous, huh?" she asked.

"Hey, you would've already been lying flat on the ground surrounded by shattered glass if you were in my place, so feeling like spitting butterflies isn't that exaggerated," Draco told her, his eyes still closed, though some color was coming back to his face again and he wore a small smile.

"True. Very true," replied Nora, still automatically stroking his hand. Just then Harry and Ron entered the rooming, looking slightly flushed.

"H-h-had trouble f-finding the k-k-kitchens," panted Ron, as he leaned forward, trying to regain his breath. Harry, too, was finding it hard to breathe properly.

"And did you get the food?" asked Nora, looking at their empty hands.

"Not yet. But we asked the house-elves to send some food up every hour or so. They're busy making some right now," replied Harry as Ron lay down on the ground.

"Ron, what on earth are you doing?" asked Hermione as she entered the room, carefully stepping over Ron, carrying a pile of books.

"I'm resting," replied Ron without opening his eyes.

"Ah. Well, here are some books to read," she said while placing the pile carefully down on the floor at the foot of Draco's bed.

"What happened?" asked Harry, seeing Draco.

"He got sick and retched four times," replied Nora.

"You all right, mate?" called Ron from the floor, eyes still closed.

"Yeah," mumbled Draco, who still had his eyes shut as well.

"Where's the food?" asked Hermione, just realizing Harry and Ron had returned empty handed.

"The house-elves are preparing it. We've asked them to send some up every hour," replied Harry. Ron grumbled something that was definitely made up of some curse words.

"What's wrong with _you_?" asked Nora, leaning forward a little so she could see Ron. He just grumbled a bit more.

"He wanted to have them send some food up every fifteen minutes," replied Harry grinning as he looked through the books Hermione had retrieved from their Living Room. Hermione shook her head, watching Ron with pity written all over her face. Luckily Ron didn't see.

"Get up, Ron," she said.

"Why?" moaned Ron, finally opening his eyes.

"Because Draco is about to drink his sleeping potion," replied Hermione as she kicked Ron lightly in the side, trying to get him to get up, but Ron just rolled out of the way. Hermione sighed. Draco sniggered as he watched, but his nervousness, which had went away a bit when he was alone with Nora, now seemed to flow back to him at full blast.

"Ron, pleeease get up," said Nora, but Ron did not move. "Get up… Up!" He still did not move. Hermione completely lost her temper, pointed her wand at Ron and said:

"Wingardium Leviosa." He gave a shriek as he was lifted into the air.

"Let me go, you wench!" he shouted, shaking a fist at her. Hermione lowered him, a bit too fast, and Ron landed painfully on the ground again, panting.

"You… evil… hag," he said slowly. Hermione dismissed him with a wave of her hand and walked over to Draco so he could touch the Amulet of Era's. After he was done the rest of them touched it, too, and Harry grabbed the still smoking goblet from the nightstand. Hermione sat on the bed across from Nora and on the other side of Draco.

"What's this?" asked Ron as he picked up the piece of parchment that contained Hermione's schedule. "Useless," he muttered as he crumpled it up and cast a spell that made it disappear.

"ROHON!" exclaimed Hermione. "That was my schedule! I spent a good deal of work on that!"

"Well it was useless," replied Ron. Thus Hermione gave him the silent treatment.

"Are you two guarding him first?" asked Harry. Nora and Hermione nodded. "All right. Well then, Draco. It's time for you to drink the dreamless sleep potion." Draco nodded slowly, and tried to ignore the million butterflies that were fluttering around in his stomach like crazy. Harry handed him the goblet and Draco hesitated for a second before drinking it, feeling Nora still caressing his hand, though she was unaware of it. Draco felt himself becoming drowsy as he gave Harry the goblet and laid his head down on the pillow, focusing hard on the hand Nora was stroking.

"Aw, crap. I forgot to get the Troll's club," Draco heard Harry complain, and he laughed quietly before sleep washed over him.

"You forgot to get what?" asked Nora, looking at Harry.

"Well, Draco said that he'd even let me hit him with a Troll's club if it kept him away from insanity, but I forgot to get one," explained Harry.

"Right," said Nora, deciding she'd just forget that.

"So, now what?" asked Ron, speaking up again. Hermione huffed and looked in another direction. Ron made a face at her and then turned to the others. "Well?"

"I guess now me and Hermione watch him," began Nora, indicating to Draco. "And you and Harry just read." And so a long night began.

They switched guards every hour after they had all eaten something and whenever they got tired they would touch Hermione's Amulet, Draco sleeping peacefully through it all.

* * *

It was nearly four thirty when Nora and Hermione, who were standing guard, noticed a change in Draco's sleeping behavior. They instantly called Harry and Ron who rushed over immediately.

"What should we do?" asked Hermione, panicking.

"Should we wake him?" suggested Nora.

"No," replied Harry firmly.

"What?" shrieked Hermione and Nora in unison.

"No," replied Harry, still more firmly.

"Why not?" asked Ron.

"Voldemort will know. We have to wait until he wakes up himself and then we'll start distracting him," Harry explained to them.

"You're sure about this," said Hermione. Harry nodded.

"Positive. If we wake him up now, Voldemort will, I dunno, sense it and he'll know we know about his plans. Remember, he still thinks I'm insane."

"All right. We wait," said Hermione and the four of them watched Draco getting more and more troubled as a frown made its way onto his normally calm face.

* * *

Draco found himself standing outside, beside a large house with a gigantic garden that looked a lot like his. He took a few steps forward and heard a shriek. He looked around quickly and, to the side, he saw a little girl being chased by someone who looked a lot like him. A second look told him it was him and realization dawned. It was the fifth of January. The day Nymphirah would be murdered. He ran forward to himself and his sister, to warn them, but neither of them noticed him and continued playing.

"Draco!" called a malicious voice. "Draco, come here!" it was his father and Draco saw the younger version of himself walking up to him.

"Yes, father?" he asked in a voice full of hatred.

"The Dark Lord and his fellow Death Eaters have arrived. You shall receive the Dark Mark now," his father whispered, though older Draco could still hear it. "Follow us." And Lucius Malfoy walked off towards the forest with Voldemort and the other Death Eaters, followed by the younger Draco. The other, real, Draco searched the area trying to find his mother, but she had already gone inside. He then tried to find Nymphirah and saw she was sneaking over to the forest, trailing her brother. Draco ran after her, trying to stop her, but he knew it was useless. He ran through the forest and stopped in a clearing where he saw himself standing in the middle of a circle of Death Eaters with Voldemort.

"Your mother and sister are not to know about this. They would not understand if they found out. Kneel, Draco," said Voldemort in his cold voice. The real Draco just watched, not wanting to see what would happen next. Wishing he were anywhere but here. "Kneel, so you can receive the Dark Mark."

"Yes, master," replied the younger Draco, his voice dull, as he kneeled down in front of the snakelike man.

"Good, good. Now, stick out your arm, Draco," said Voldemort, excited that his heir would soon be a Death Eater, too. The real Draco watched the young version of himself bend his head, turning his gaze to the floor, and hold out his arm. He still knew the exact thoughts that were going through his head right at that moment: '_I don't want to receive it, I want to be an Auror when I finish school, I want to capture Death Eaters, not work with them._' Draco shook his head slightly as tears formed in his eyes.

"Now, this might sting a bit," Voldemort said and Draco watched as an icy cold finger touched the arm of his younger self. He could see himself grimace in pain and he remembered how he had felt. He had thought his arm was being torn apart.

"ARGH!" Draco saw Voldemort let go of young Draco's arm as he screamed in pain. He saw himself look up in confusion, wondering who had screamed. Voldemort was now clutching his hand and young Draco looked at his own arm to see if he had gotten the Dark Mark. Draco could almost hear the thoughts as though he had said it out loud: '_White?_'

"Master, are you harmed?" Asked Lucius Malfoy, bringing Draco's attention back to what was going to happen soon.

"No. I'm all right, now. Well, I certainly didn't expect this and I do not know what it is, either. Draco!" shouted Voldemort and young Draco gave a slight jump.

"Yes, master?" He asked, while kneeling in front of Voldemort again.

"Do you have the Dark Mark on your arm?"

"Yes, master," said Draco, while covering it up with his sleeve.

"Very well, then. Ah, Nagini. You have returned," said Voldemort in a hiss. The snake that had arrived hissed in return.

"Yes, master." Draco saw his own eyes widen; he could hear what the snake was saying! He could speak Parseltongue all of a sudden! He saw himself look at his Dark Mark, then at Voldemort and then back at his Dark Mark.

"Is everything set? Will we be able to continue with our plan?" hissed Voldemort, not aware of what Draco was doing.

"Yes, master. Everything is ready." Then Nagini slithered away, weaving in and out of the Death Eaters, who moved out of the way as she passed them.

"Well, the plan is ready, Hogwarts will be our aim and if everything goes according to plan the students will be in the Great Hall when we set the owls and Nifflers loose," said Voldemort in his high-pitched cruel voice. "What is it, Nagini?" he hissed as his snake came gliding back.

"Master, there is a little girl watching," hissed Nagini and then she slithered off again. Draco's stomach dropped; he knew what was coming next and he didn't like it. Why had Nymphirah always wanted to follow him everywhere?

"What?" shouted Voldemort. He walked swiftly out of the circle of Death Eaters only to return, holding a squirming Nymphirah. "You silly little girl. You should've known better than to follow your dear brother. Now, you shall pay," said Voldemort in merciless cold voice. Nymphirah was kneeling in front of him, sobbing in her hands, whispering apologies, begging him to spare her life. Draco wanted to reach out, to save her, but he couldn't. He found it impossible to move and could only watch. "Avada Kedavra!" He saw the flash of bright green light, he saw Nympirah's limp body fall to the ground, saw the triumphant look on Voldemort's face and felt rage flow through him like he never felt before. He wanted to murder him. He wanted to murder the man that had ruined his, and many others', life.

"NYMPIRAH!" Draco watched, tears running down his face, as the younger version of himself ran forward. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER! THERE WAS NO NEED! SHE WOULDN'T HAVE TOLD ANYONE! THERE WAS NO NEED!" Yelled the young Draco at Voldemort, while hugging the limp form of his sister. "There was no need!"

"You foolish boy! No one speaks to Lord Voldemort like that! No one! CRUCIO!" bellowed Voldemort and Draco watched as he saw himself squirming on the floor, his face contorted with pain and rage. He saw himself scream, scream like he had never screamed before, and felt a very outsized urge to scream himself… and to kill the man who had ruined his life.

* * *

Draco shot up in his bed, screaming, tears running down his face, and shaking terribly, like Harry had done the night before. Nora and Hermione were now both holding a hand and started whispering soothing words at once, not able to imagine how much pain he must be going through. Harry and Ron were not really sure what to do, women seemed to be way better at this sort of stuff, so they patted Draco's legs, the only part they could reach, since Nora and Hermione seemed to have taken up all of the space near Draco's upper body.

Draco let out a loud shout filled with agony, tears still pouring down his pale and clammy face. He was shaking as horribly as Harry had done. It killed Nora to see him like this and she pulled the trembling boy into a hug, holding him close to her, stroking his hair. She rocked him back and forth very slightly like she and Hermione had done with Harry, hoping they would be able to keep him from insanity.

"It's all right, Draco. Shhhh. It's all right," she whispered into his ear. Hermione stroked his hand and arm, tears forming in her eyes. She tried not to think about what would happen if he were pulled into insanity, but the thought forced itself into her mind.

"We'll keep you from insanity. Don't worry. It'll be all right," whispered Nora into his ear as she kept stroking his hair and rocking him, though not really believing her own words. The thought of him, without his sanity, kept entering her mind and, though she tried hard to push it away, it remained firm in place, causing a few tears to escape from her eyes. Hermione glanced at her best friend every so often, checking to see how she was doing, how she was handling this. She knew Nora still loved Draco, though the stubborn girl would never admit it to anyone.

Draco's mind was almost completely blank. He found himself thinking about the… thing he had witnessed the whole time. His sister trailing him, watching the secret meeting from behind a tree, getting caught, begging Voldemort for mercy, begging him to spare her life. Images kept entering his mind and returning over and over and over again. He knew his friends were there. He knew Harry and Ron were patting his legs. He knew Hermione was holding his hand, squeezing it every now and then, and rubbing his arm. He knew Nora was the one holding his other hand and hugging him and rocking him back and forth and whispering comfortable, soothing, even hope-giving words into his ear, but he didn't really acknowledge it; everything seemed to go by him, though he tried hard to focus on it.

"Harry, Ron, go get Dumbledore," said Nora, a bit aggressively, all of a sudden, taking her friends by surprise.

"What?" asked Ron, startled.

"Go and get Dumbledore," she repeated fiercely.

"But he's not supposed to be here. He's too powerful remember?" argued Ron, frowning.

"Just get Dumbledore!" she snapped with a look so vicious that the two boys scrambled from the bed and ran out of the room in fright, fetching Dumbledore as she had ordered. Nora continued hugging Draco and, when she thought Hermione wasn't looking nor paying attention, she whispered in his ear "I love you."

Hermione watched as Harry and Ron ran out of the room and kept staring at the hall, where they had been only seconds before. She didn't want to turn around and look at Draco again. The sight of him like this scared her and she felt that, even though he had been a real pain in the ass from first till fifth year, he didn't deserve this. No one did. Except Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Hermione sighed softly as she kept staring into the hall. She was about to turn around and sit straight again, when she heard Nora whisper something in Draco's ear again, even quieter than before. Though it seemed as if she was saying it out loud. But what was it? She strained her ears. "I love you." Hermione frowned. Nora wouldn't admit her love for Draco to anyone, not even to her, Hermione, but she would to Draco himself, the one person who was not supposed to know? This made no sense. Wait… unless… Nora did not expect Draco to wake up, ever again. But how could she just give up hope like that? How could she be so forlorn? It was a mystery to her. Hermione turned around and began stroking Draco's arm again, hoping immensely Dumbledore would arrive soon.

Draco closed his eyes. His vision was blurred when they were open. It felt better to close them. He wanted so much to just let the nightmare drown him, but a little part of him said he shouldn't, said that he should focus on his friends, on other things, and though Draco tried, it was almost impossible. Whenever he found something else to think about it led him back to the nightmare. He tried to focus on Nora's words. Tried to pay attention to what it was she kept whispering. He heard her shout something, but he did not know to who or what she was shouting. Just then he felt Harry and Ron leaving the room in a hurry. But he didn't want them to leave. He wanted them to stay, to help him out of this, whatever it was. Them leaving brought new tears in his eyes. Draco tried to focus on Nora's words again. What was she saying? Pay attention! What is it! What is she saying? He thought desperately, trying so hard to keep the nightmare away. "I love you." Draco's mind seemed frozen for a few seconds before Nymphirah's death engulfed him. As he was being rocked back and forth he focused on those three words. She loved him? She still loved him? And though this gave him a whole lot of hope, he found it harder and harder to keep the nightmare out. He found himself wishing more often that the horrible thoughts would just engulf him, but still a little voice told him to resist, to hold it back, to focus on happier memories: She loved him. And Draco tried, he tried as hard as he could, but it was almost impossible, and he was so exhausted. When he was right on the verge of just letting all the dreadfulness wash over him, he heard a sound. A beautiful clear voice singing and Draco focused on it. Listening to it was much easier than trying to think of happy thoughts. The song broke with ease through all of the barriers his brain had set up as the words flowed into his mind, sounding like a phoenix song, but he knew it wasn't one. He knew it was Nora's favorite song, though how, he did not know.

_You don't need no friends  
_

_Get back your faith again  
_

_You have the power to believe  
_

_Another dissident  
_

_Take back your evidence  
_

_It has no power to deceive  
_

_I believe it  
_

_When I see it  
_

_For myself_

Hermione looked at Nora surprise. She had not hear her friend sing for a long time, yet here she was, in one of the most dreadful moments in her life, singing as clearly and wonderfully as if it were a celebration and she was asked to share a song with them. She had not heard Nora sing since the winter vacation, right before they had gone back to Hogwarts. Hermione felt as if the song gave her hope, as if it was a phoenix song. She knew it was all for Draco.

_I don't need no one  
_

_To tell me bout heaven  
_

_I look at my daughter  
_

_And I believe  
_

_I don't need no proof  
_

_When it comes to god and truth  
_

_I can see the sunset  
_

_And I perceive_

Hermione closed her eyes as she listened to the song and caressed Draco's arm. This song was a favourite of her and Nora's. They had loved it the moment they heard it, which was on the radio a few years ago, when they were staying at Nora's house. It was such a wonderful song.

_Sit with them all night  
_

_Everything they say is right  
_

_But in the morning they were wrong  
_

_I'll be right by your side  
_

_Come hell or water high  
_

_Down any road you choose to roam  
_

_I believe it  
_

_When I see it  
_

_For myself  
_

Nora had no idea why, but she felt that singing was a lot easier for her to do than whispering soothing words. And she felt that if this song had gotten her through some terribly dreadful times before, it would get them through this. She dearly hoped Draco could hear it; he would have something to focus on.

_I don't need no one  
_

_To tell me bout heaven  
_

_I look at my daughter  
_

_And I believe  
_

_I don't need no proof  
_

_When it comes to god and truth  
_

I can see the sunset

_And I perceive  
_

_Darling I believe_

_Sometimes it's hard to breathe  
_

_At the bottom of the sea_

Draco felt himself calm down while listening to the song. Felt himself relax as the tunes drifted through his head preventing all the horrible thoughts that had been intruding all the while before, to enter again.

_I believe it  
_

_When I see it  
_

_For myself  
_

_I don't need no one  
_

_To tell me bout heaven  
_

_I look at my daughter  
_

_And I believe  
_

_I don't need no proof  
_

_When it comes to god and truth  
_

_I can see the sunset  
_

_And I perceive_

Harry and Ron ran into Draco's bedroom only to stop upon hearing the beautiful sound that reached their ears. Harry spotted the source immediately, but Ron had a bit more trouble. He looked all around the room, trying to see what was singing so beautifully, it never occurred to him it could be a person, so Harry nudged him hard in the ribs and pointed to Nora, who was sitting on the bed hugging Draco, both of them eyes closed, singing. Dumbledore stood quietly behind them, listening, humming the tune very quietly.

_I don't need no one  
_

_To tell me bout heaven  
_

_I look at my daughter  
_

_And I believe  
_

_I don't need no proof  
_

_When it comes to god and truth  
_

_I can see the sunset  
_

_I can see the sunset  
_

_I can see the sunset  
_

_I don't need no one  
_

_I don't need no one  
_

_I don't need no one  
_

_I don't need no one  
_

_To tell me bout heaven  
_

_I believe_

When Nora was done singing she opened her eyes and quickly wiped a few tears away. She heard a gentle snoring and looked to the side to see a peacefully sleeping Draco, and a happily smiling, though through tears, Hermione. Nora carefully laid Draco's head on his pillow, feeling very embarrassed, and gave a little jump when she heard Dumbledore's voice

"Well, that was a brilliant song. It is one of my favourites. Though, sad to say, I haven't heard it for a long while, up until now. Thank you for reminding my aging mind what the tunes were," he said happily.

"Erm… yes," murmured Nora. "You're welcome."

"Now, Harry and Ron said that you ordered them to come and fetch me rather snappishly but I see you handled perfectly well by yourself. You four go ahead downstairs for a good, hearty breakfast, and I shall bring Draco up to the infirmary," Dumbledore told them. Harry, Nora, Hermione and Ron nodded and they walked slowly out of the room.

"He'll be all right, though, won't he?" asked Ron as they walked down the hall. Hermione purposely looked the other way; she was still ignoring him.

"I think so," said Harry, going down the stairs, but Ron wasn't waiting for a reply; instead he walked next to Hermione.

"Aw, come on, 'Mione. You're not gonna ignore for the rest of the day, are you?" he whined. Hermione huffed, crossing her arms.

"Watch me," she snarled.

"Ha, you already talked to me! You can't keep ignoring me now. You already talked to me!" he exclaimed happily.

"Watch me," snarled Hermione again, wiping the smile off of Ron's face.

"Aw, come on 'Mione. You know I didn't throw your schedule away on purpose," he said as they entered the Dining Room. Hermione said nothing. "Oh, she'll beg me to talk to her sooner or later," muttered Ron to Harry as they sat down. "You just wait and see."

"Right, mate," Harry told him, thinking Ron was incredibly dim-witted when it came to women. But then again, so was he.

Halfway during breakfast Dumbledore came to join them and explained that today would be the last day of practicing to dodge Bludgers on their brooms. Tomorrow they would start to practice a form of Apparation that many men use while duelling. Harry remembered Dumbledore fighting Voldemort almost a year ago and both men had been able to disappear and then appear again in a completely different spot. He vaguely wondered if that was what they were going to learn.

So after breakfast they went outside to the Quidditch pitch for more practice. Hardly any of them were paying attention, though; all of their minds were set on learning that form of Apparation. It would be dead useful in their fight against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. After a lot of nauseating spins, twirls, loops, dives, etc. they were finally allowed to stop while Dumbledore went to check on Draco who was now waking up.

"He's all right, though, isn't he?" asked Hermione as they landed on the floor.

"I guess," replied Harry. "Otherwise Dumbledore would've said so, wouldn't he?" The four of them put their Firebolts away and headed towards the castle.

"What should we do now?" asked Ron, boredom washing over him. Harry shrugged.

"There isn't much to do. The rain stopped long ago, so we won't be able to play around in it," he said, looking at Nora.

"Ha ha ha. Very funny," she told him sarcastically.

"See, in Hogwarts we would've come up with something to do already, here we just do nothing," said Hermione.

"We could explore the grounds a bit," suggested Ron.

"It might be dangerous," said Harry.

"Oh, right."

"Merlin, this place bites," stated Nora.

"What?" exclaimed Ron. "It's got _teeth_ as well as monsters?" He folded his arms, looking irritably at the castle and it's grounds. Harry, Nora and Hermione stopped still and watched him, a bit taken aback by this sudden outburst.

"Ron!" said Hermione exasperatedly.

"What?" he asked irritably.

"It's a figure of speech. This place doesn't _actually_ have teeth," explained Hermione, her hands on her hips.

"Oh. I knew that." He walked back up to them. "By the way, you look just like my mum when you stand like that," he added as he passed Hermione. Her arms immediately fell to her side.

"We could visit Draco," suggested Harry. The others shrugged.

"Yeah, all right."

* * *

_A/N_: Oh my god. This chapter is already soooo long and I still haven't gotten to the main part of it! You guys are gonna have to keep reading for a bit more, hehe:

* * *

So the four of them went inside and called out for sir Cadogan, needing him to lead the way, as they still hadn't figured out where everything was exactly.

"Right this way, kind sirs and gentle ladies!" exclaimed the knight happily before he began running. He tripped quite a few times, "Running with armour is highly difficult, kind students, and it should not be tried by any one other than a professional," he told them as he struggled to get up, and the four of them tried hard to stifle their laughter. Ron was having most trouble of them all and he buried his face in Harry's robes, though it hardly helped.

"Are you ill? I daresay those noises are not ones made by a healthy, strong person like myself-" He tripped over a loose pebble in one of the paintings and fell flat on his face. Ron could no longer hold himself and he howled with laughter, only to be slapped on the arms by Nora and Hermione, and Harry, who hit him in a _very_ queer way, imitating the two girls. Ron howled with laughter again as both Nora and Hermione glared daggers at Harry, who just flashed his boyish smile at them.

"We have arrived!" exclaimed sir Cadogan as he scrambled up after yet another fall.

"Thanks," the four students told him, recognizing the hall outside the infirmary immediately.

"Should we knock?" whispered Hermione.

"Dunno," whispered Nora back.

"I guess knocking couldn't hurt," stated Harry and he rapped loudly on the door with his knuckles before slowly opening it. Draco was lying in the bed next to the one Harry had lain in and Dumbledore was sitting next to him in a comfortable chintz armchair.

"You see? I told you it would only be a matter of minutes before they found their way up here," said Dumbledore happily, and Draco smiled gratefully at his headmaster.

"So, how are you feeling?" asked Harry as he sat down next to Dumbledore on a slightly less comfortable chair.

"Not bad, actually," replied Draco truthfully. "A bit tired, but not bad."

"Oh, thank Merlin. We were dead worried about you," said Hermione as she sat down next to Harry, leaving Nora and Ron to sit on the other side.

"I'll be leaving you for now. Work to be done, of course," Dumbledore told them and he walked out of the room, the everlasting twinkle in his eyes twinkling one last time at them before he disappeared from view.

"So, what did you guys do?" inquired Draco.

"Had more practice dodging Bludgers," replied Ron dully.

"Oh."

"Yeah, it was pretty boring, and nauseating, but tomorrow we start something new," Harry told him, and Draco immediately cheered up.

"Really? What? Dumbledore hasn't told me yet."

"Some form of Apparation. Dumbledore told us people use it a lot when they duel. I saw him do it when he was fighting Voldemort," replied Harry.

"Really? Cool," said Draco. "I mean, the form of Apparation is cool, not fighting Voldemort. He shouldn't be worth so much time," finished Draco in a dark mutter.

"Yeah," said Harry, a bit automatically.

"I miss my family," pouted Ron. The others sighed and nodded.

"Me too," said Nora. Then her eyes opened wide in shock. "Oh no! no, no, no, no, no!" she groaned immediately. The others looked at her, brows furrowed.

"No, no, no what?" asked Ron.

"It's Lily's birthday Friday, which is in four days and I haven't gotten her a present or a card yet! And it should already be sent because Merlin knows where we are and it could take days before Siberia reaches her! ARGH! How could I have been so stupid?" She shrieked, totally in hysterics.

"Well, -" began Ron, but Nora cut him off.

"IT WAS A RHETORICAL QUESTION!" she snapped. "YOUR'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO ANSWER THOSE, RON!" Ron closed his mouth and glared at her, mad that both girls had bellowed at him in less than a day.

"Look, I'm sure Lily will understand if you're present comes a bit late," said Hermione. But Nora shook her head.

"I don't even have a present. Weren't you listening?" she snapped.

"All right. No need to bite my head off," snapped Hermione back. Both girls glowered at each other. Ron was now looking pretty pleased with himself, happy that he was no longer the only one being yelled at.

"You can always make a present. Or send a picture or something," suggested Draco. Nora slowly turned her eyes on him, and, after one last glare at Hermione, she shrugged and replied:

"Maybe. But I don't have a camera nor do I have any idea what I would make or where I'd get the things to make it with."

"Well, what does she like?" asked Draco. Nora thought about this for a minute.

"Harry," she replied simply. Draco's eyebrows shot upwards and were completely hidden by his untidy hair. He looked at Harry, who was grinning.

"Yeah. They have this really special bond together," explained Nora a bit bored, waving her hand dismissively. Draco looked at her again.

"I see. Well then send her a picture of Harry, or a drawing, since you don't have a camera," he said.

"Isn't that kind of lame for a birthday present? No offence," Nora told him. He shrugged.

"Well, if you can think of something better," said Draco. Nora thought for a while, leaning her head tiredly on her hand, trying to think of a birthday present for Lily, when all of a sudden she was hit with the memory of the funeral, for no reason at all. Images flashed past her. She was sitting on the snow, in front of Dean's coffin. Harry coming over with Lily, handing her to her sister. Lily asking if the person in the picture was Dean. Asking if the person he was kissing was her, Nora. Stating that Dean was handsome. And as sudden as they had come, the flashes and images disappeared and Nora felt something warm roll down her cheeks. She put her hands to her face and wiped some of it off. She held her hands up in front of her eyes and expected to see translucent tears on her fingers, since she had been crying, but instead of pearly tears there was blood. Dark red blood. Nora stared at her hands, not knowing what on earth was happening to her, when she realized that she was crying blood, that it was pouring out of her eyes. Her high-pitched scream pierced the air like a gunshot breaking the calm silence early in the morning.

"Nora. Nora!" shouted Hermione as she shook her friend. Nora opened her eyes and scanned the room in fright. She was in the infirmary, sitting by a bed.

"W-W-What h-ha-happened?" asked Nora terrified, fear all over her face, she clutched the white bed sheet in front of her.

"You fell asleep," said Hermione, and Harry, Ron and Draco nodded.

"I fell – what? I fell asleep?" she asked, looking at her friends. They all nodded. Nora frowned and looked at the white sheets that covered Draco. Without thinking she stuck out her hand and touched the Amulet that hung around Hermione's neck. Nora immediately felt herself strengthen and stop trembling.

"What happened? Why did you scream?" asked Harry. Nora told them what she had dreamed, though it had felt so real.

"I was crying blood," she finished.

"Poor thing," muttered Hermione and she gave Nora a hug before sitting down in her seat.

"And it had really felt like the day of the funeral," said Nora weakly. "It was so horrible. And Lily, stating Dean was handsome, it only made me feel so much worse."

"Come on," said Harry softly. "Cheer up a bit."

"I can't!" exclaimed Nora, bellowing at Harry for the first time since a long while. "He's dead! And I can't help but keep thinking that if I had woken him up when Hermione and I went to check on you, Harry, that he could have stayed alive! When we ran away, he probably thought I was kidnapped and killed! Which was probably why he was battling Death Eaters! And he died! He died not knowing that I was alive and safe! … Not knowing how much I loved him," she finished faintly, fidgeting roughly with the covers.

Harry, Hermione and Ron stared at Nora. So now they knew. Now they finally knew what had bothered Nora for so long after Dean had died. She blamed herself and thought he never knew how much she loved him. Draco was the only one who was not gaping at her. He had never even known she had been so troubled. She had always seemed normal to him. Unless he had been so stupid and ignorant not to notice, which was a large possibility.

"He knew how much you loved him, honey," said Hermione softly. "He really did know how much you loved him, and it's not your fault he battled Death Eaters. It wasn't because of you. He wanted to fight them; he tried to protect the castle. He knew you were alive and safe."

"Really?" asked Nora, her voice rather hoarse. Hermione nodded. Nora wiped her tears away and looked at her shoes. She felt ashamed of her outburst.

"All right. So a present for Lily," said Draco, trying to change the subject, for which Nora was very grateful.

"A picture of us all would be nice," suggested Ron.

"Ooh, and we could take it by the lake in the forest," said Hermione excitedly.

"But where can we get a camera?" asked Nora.

"Dumbledore?" said Harry.

"Oh my god! I have a camera!" exclaimed Hermione, hitting herself on the forehead. "I totally forgot about it, but I have a camera in my trunk. I bought it the moment we stayed in a wizard area during our trip."

"Great. So let's go," said Ron.

"All right." And they got up out of the chairs.

"What about me?" asked Draco feebly. They turned around and laughed. Hermione walked over so he could touch the Amulet and when he was fully strong again he jumped out of the bed, already dressed, and the five of them made their way out in the hall.

"Argh," grumbled Nora. "Why do we always have to call sir Cadogan when we want to get around this castle? I wish we knew the way."

"I know it a little," said Hermione and she walked off.

After a couple of wrong turns and dead ends the five of them were finally standing outside in the bright sun and warm breeze, having changed into their swimsuits and picked up Hermione's camera along the way

"Should we take some pictures of the castle, too?" asked Nora.

"No, people might recognize it," replied Hermione. Together they walked off towards the forest. When they finally reached the beautiful lake they gazed at it, enthralled by its beauty.

"Now you four go into the water and I'll set the camera so that I can get in the pictures, too," said Hermione and she began fidgeting with it. Nora was already running off into the water, squealing, as Harry, Ron and Draco ran after her, trying to tickle her. It took a while before Hermione had finally figured out how the camera worked. She waded into the water as the camera hovered in mid-air, facing them. When she reached the others she was immediately attacked by Harry and Ron and tried to get away from them, not wanting to be tickled. Nora was attacking Draco, to the side. When the five of them were in the middle of the water, all wrestling each other, laughing, a snap was heard and a large puff of smoke came from the camera. The five of them stopped to see what had happened.

"How'd you do that?" Ron asked Hermione.

"Well it comes with this cordless thing and when you press it, the camera takes a picture. This way I was able to get in it, too," she explained.

"Wow, you really know everything," Ron told her. What she did not know, though, was that Harry was sneaking up behind her, his hands ready to tickle her. Hermione's shriek filled the air when Harry finally pounced, followed by much laughter, and more shrieks as everyone began wrestling everyone again.

When they were all done chasing each other, the five of them got out of the water and switched back into their clothes waiting for Hermione to show them the pictures. There were quite a few of them wrestling and tickling each other. One showed Hermione hurrying out of the picture as Harry, Ron and Draco chased her, Nora laughing off to the side. Another one showed Nora being chased by Hermione while Harry, Ron and Draco stood off to the side laughing. Then there was one with both Nora and Hermione chasing the three guys. One showed Hermione strangling Harry for sneaking up on her. One showed Nora attacking Ron, who quickly took cover behind Harry and Draco. Another picture showed Ron all alone, looking suspiciously around him, the others nowhere to be seen. Then there was a picture that showed Nora and Hermione being thrown into the air by the guys. Actually, all of the pictures were of them ganging up on each other, usually guys against girls, but there was one picture that was simply beautiful. It was of the five of them in a row, arms around each other. Harry was in the middle, after all, he was the main point of the picture, Nora and Hermione were beside him, and Ron and Draco were on the outside, Ron beside Hermione, Draco next to Nora. The five of them had their arms around each other and were smiling happily as water rushed down in the waterfall behind them. This scenic picture was to be sent to Lily. The other pictures weren't really an option because it either showed them wrestling each other, or strangling each other, as in Hermione and Ron's case.

The five of them entered the castle, looking at the pictures, and entered the Dining Room for dinner, chatting happily, hair still wet.

* * *

_A/N_: I'm only just starting to write what the chapter is really about, but I'm beginning to wrap it up a bit as well, I don't want this to get too long.

* * *

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Nora and Draco were all sitting in the Dining Room having breakfast with Dumbledore. They had all gotten a good night's rest and had woken up fully refreshed and rested, the picture of them had been sent to Lily before they went to bed.

"Today we will start learning the form of Apparation I told you about. We will start practicing immediately as it is an important part in battle and takes lots of concentration to learn. The whole week will be spent on this up until Saturday, that will be the last lesson," Dumbledore told them. The five students listened intently; they were all very excited about learning the form of Apparation and couldn't wait until they had fully mastered it.

After breakfast they went outside. Dumbledore would be teaching them out in the clearing in front of the castle, because it was the most spacious and, as he so cheerfully put it, it would be a shame to stay inside during such lovely weather.

"All right. Now, this form of Apparation will not be easy to learn. Firstly you must all concentrate hard on the area where you want reappear. Then you must will your body to go there and last of all you must focus on your colour," explained Dumbledore. The others watched him intently, not really sure if they were able to do this. But all of a sudden Dumbledore wasn't there anymore. They all looked around only to find him standing behind them, smiling. "When you have fully mastered it, you will be able to move as fast as I can."

"Cool," muttered Ron in aw.

"Yes, very… cool, isn't it? Now, I want you all to begin trying to Apparate. I doubt any of you will be able to pull it off today, except maybe Harry and Hermione, but the longer you try, the more likely you are to succeed. Begin," Dumbledore said, while smiling at them all. The five students each chose a spot in the meadow to Apparate too and focused hard on it. Then they tried to will their bodies there while focussing on their colour, but it was not to be done, and they felt quite stupid, really.

For hours and hours they stood staring hard at a spot in the clearing, desperately wishing their bodies to go there while they kept their colour in their minds. At the end of the day none of them had been able to do it and they all felt quite useless, but Dumbledore's words made them feel a bit better.

"No need to worry. Tomorrow you will all be able to Apparate, I guarantee it. I, myself, needed three whole days before I was able to fully master," he told them. So, feeling a bit better they walked back up to the castle.

"You know what I find weird?" said Ron.

"What?" asked the others.

"That I haven't heard anything from my family or Lavender. I sent them an owl a few days ago, but they still haven't replied."

"Same here," said Harry and Hermione.

"But it might take a while because Merlin knows where we are and it could be quite a distance apart," Hermione told them. Ron shrugged.

* * *

The next day the six of them were outside again, ready to practice some more. Dumbledore stood to the side, watching them carefully. The five students focused hard, harder than they ever had before, wishing they would move. But hours and hours passed and still none of them had been able to.

Growing more and more tired they were beginning to give up hope at being able to do this at all, and the five of them were about to give up completely when Harry, after a weird sensation in his stomach, floated past the others and landed a few feet away from them.

"Very well done, Harry!" said Dumbledore proudly. "And the more and more you practice, the faster you will be able to move, until you actually don't move at all and just appear there. Practice for another hour and then you'll have the rest of the day off," he told them and the five students went back to practicing.

When the hour was over all of them had succeeded, having received hope by Harry's success. Harry had practiced going faster during the hour and he was moving quicker, but not by much. So filled with more hope the five of them spent the rest of the day doing whatever they felt like.

* * *

On Thursday, the third day of practicing, the whole day was spent trying to move faster to their chosen spot, Dumbledore cheering them on as if it were a horse race. Harry was still moving quickest of all and seemed to be learning faster than the rest. After that, Hermione was the best, then Nora and Draco and last Ron. At the end of the day they were all proudly smiled upon by Dumbledore.

"Now that you have all nearly mastered the form of Apparation, half of tomorrow will be spent going even faster and the other half will be spent using it during battle. All right, I believe that it is now dinner time, as I seem to have held you out here a bit longer, so off to the Dining Room," said Dumbledore and he marched inside the castle, the others following him, smiling

* * *

That Friday they spent the first half of the day Apparating even faster. They were moving so fast that they could not be seen travelling to their chosen spot anymore, but when they landed there they were all a bit queasy due to the speed and always staggered around when touching the ground. Luckily, when they reached the stage where they didn't move but just reappeared somewhere else, there was no speed involved and the five students were able to stay standing upright.

"Very well done!" praised Dumbledore, beaming. "Now you can begin using it in battle. This may be a bit harder because you have to focus on the battle as well. Pair up, and the one left over will watch until one of the others has fully succeeded in Apparating during the 'war scene'," he said. Nora knew what would happen; Draco would be left over. So she decided to watch first, not wanting him to feel left out, after all, he had changed the subject very quickly after her outburst at Harry, and for that she would be forever grateful. So Hermione and Draco paired up together as did Harry and Ron.

Ron could be seen trying hard to Apparate, but all he managed to do was trip over a couple of times. Harry was able to do it rather quickly, but then again, he was the strongest of them all and managed to learn everything easier. Nora was now battling Ron and she took it a bit easy on him as he was trying very, very hard to Apparate. It was half an hour later when Hermione had been able to Apparate as well and was now standing to the side, watching her friends.

Nora, Ron and Draco needed a bit more time to fully learn to Apparate while fighting, but once they had finally done it, they were able to do it fully and at the end of the day the five of them trudged up to the castle, completely exhausted. At dinner they piled their plates full, famished from the hard training, and stuffed the food quickly into their mouths.

"I have a little 'announcement'," Dumbledore said. The five looked up at him intently, wondering what it could be. "Tomorrow will be Saturday, the last day of practicing the form of Apparation. Tomorrow, though, your families and close friends will come to visit as well. They will be arriving here at noon," he told them. The five students, who were now all smiling, knew that by 'close friends' Dumbledore meant they people they were currently 'dating'. "You will meet them and at one o'clock I will take them apart and explain to them why you are here and what your part is in the defeat of Voldemort." The five students were all beaming, happy to see their families again.

That night none of them were able to fall asleep. Their minds were racing and they were way too cheery about seeing their loved ones again. Finally, in the middle of the night, the five of them slowly dozed off, their minds still active.

* * *

_A/N_: Finally, I finished this chapter, and it's the longest one so far! Thirty-two pages:O Yay! I'm sorry if it's a bit rushed in the end, but I didn't want to keep you guys waiting even longer for this and otherwise it would have gotten ridiculously long. The song I put in is Heaven by Live. R&R please. I really appreciate it.

**Skins Thunderbomb** – Glad to hear you like my story. ) But you don't really have to move on. Just for a bit; Nora and Draco won't be getting back together until a later chapter. Of course, it can turn out completely different and they get back together in the next chapter, I actually don't really know. Truth be told, I never had any intention of getting them together in the first place, let alone separating them again. Thanks for reviewing!


	36. Family Visits

A/N: This chapter is actually a bit pointless, but, hey, there've got to be some of them in my story as well, right?  
  
Chapter 36: Family Visits  
  
After 4 and a half days of very hard practice Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco were finally able to Apparate anywhere at will within a second, during battle as well. Dumbledore just would not stop telling them how proud he was.  
  
"Very, very, very well done," he told them for the millionth time, his eyes twinkling brightly at them. Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco grinned at their headmaster. "Now, I have changed the plan around a little bit. It is now almost 11 o'clock and your families will be arriving at about noon in the Entrance Hall. I have to go and send a letter to the Ministry of Magic and will be back within the hour to meet your parents. When they have arrived you will be able to see them, and after that I will explain to them your part in the defeat of Voldemort. Now, do you all know what you'll do during the next hour, to kill off time?"  
  
"QUIDDITCH!" shouted the five students happily.  
  
"Ah, yes. Quidditch. What would we do without it," said Dumbledore. "At noon you will make your way back to the castle to meet your families, all right?" he asked. The five students nodded vigorously. "Good. You kids have fun and I'm off to write the Ministry. I will see you at noon," he said and then walked off up to the castle.  
  
"QUIDDITCH!" shouted Harry, Ron and Draco, before running off to the Quidditch Pitch. Hermione and Nora rolled their eyes and laughed, even without rain it echoed off of everything, despite the fact that they were in a large clearing. It was a mystery. When they finally entered the Quidditch Pitch the guys were already in the air, racing each other, their t-shirts fluttering in the wind. Though it was rather warm, the five of them were wearing jeans, instead of shorts, but Hermione and Nora were wearing tank tops as well, so they were dressed a bit more 'summer-ly' than Harry, Ron and Draco. The two girls flew up in the air as well and hovered in the middle, waiting for the guys to join them.  
  
"You know, we could use that form of Apparating for pranks and stuff at school," said Ron.  
  
"Yeah, that'd be awesome," agreed Harry. "To annoy Filch or something," he added, grinning.  
  
"Yeah, but first we have to get to Hogwarts, then. Ooh, and it could be used to sneak out of school and into Hogsmeade," said Nora.  
  
"Damn, I wish we were back at school," muttered Draco glumly.  
  
"Yeah," said the others gloomily.  
  
"All right. Quidditch!" said Ron.  
  
"So how are we going to play?" asked Nora.  
  
"Well, you'll be Chaser with Hermione. Ron will be Keeper and me and Draco will be Seeker," said Harry.  
  
"Ok, let's begin," said Hermione and the game started. It wasn't a real serious game, since they had a very large shortage of players, but it was just for fun. It felt really good to be back out in the air again and the five of them soared happily through the sky, the cool wind rushing through their hair.  
  
Before they knew it Harry told them all to stop and that it was already 4 past 12. The five of them hurriedly put their brooms in the changing room, which they only used to keep their Firebolts; they never changed into their Quidditch robes since they could play Quidditch in their normal clothes just as well. Together they walked into the clearing, hoping they hadn't made their families wait.  
  
"You know what?" said Harry.  
  
"What?" asked the others.  
  
"Well, Nora once complained that we never knew our way around here but now that we learned that form of Apparation, we can just Apparate everywhere," he told them.  
  
"Hey, you're right," said Nora. "Finally! Thank Merlin we don't have to follow sir Cadogan around everywhere!" she exclaimed. Just then someone called her name and she looked around. "Was I too loud?" she whispered to the others, unsure of who, or what, had called her. Her friends shook their heads and she furrowed her brow. Just then the source of who had called her name came running over the clearing at a breakneck speed and before Nora had time to register what was happening she was knocked off of her feet by her sister.  
  
"Oof. Merlin's beard you're heavy, Lily," she muttered as she got up. Nora gave Lily a big hug, but her sister pried herself loose and then ran over to Harry, who stood to the side with the others. Harry picked Lily up as Nora walked over to him, brushing the dirt off of her clothes.  
  
"Seriously, I think she likes you way better than me," muttered Nora, glaring at her sister, while mouthing 'traitor'. Lily grinned and then put her arms around Harry's neck, giving him a hug.  
  
"Hey there, little one," said Harry. Lily pouted.  
  
"I am not little."  
  
"You are to me," replied Harry. Lily kept pouting.  
  
"Acknowledge the others too, all right? Or they may feel left out," said Nora as Hermione and Ron walked over to Lily.  
  
"Hey," they both said, smiling.  
  
"Hi Ron. Hi Hermione," Lily said happily. Hermione gave her a hug, which was almost impossible with Harry holding her, but she managed.  
  
"Who's that?" asked Lily, looking at Draco. It was very clear he felt a bit uncomfortable.  
  
"Don't be so rude, Lily," scolded Nora, before replying her sister's question. "That's Draco. You met him before, remember? At Hogwarts? In January?" Lily seemed to be thinking it over. After a few seconds her face lit up.  
  
"Yeah, I think so. You're the really hot Slytherin who asked 'Who's the little one?' when you first saw me, aren't you?" she asked.  
  
"Er. . ." said Draco while looking over at the others. He could see Nora blushing at her sister's straightforwardness, and Harry and Ron grinning at the little girl. "I guess I am." He wasn't really sure how to react at being called 'really hot' by an 11 year old.  
  
"Are you going to go out with my sister?" demanded Lily.  
  
"Erm. . ." Draco glanced at Nora who was blushing furiously, covering her eyes with her hand, and looking at her sneakers. Draco had no idea how to answer this question. He wanted to go out with Nora, he really did, but he wasn't sure if she wanted to go out with him. He was already very happy that they were now really good friends, especially after that fight they had, and he didn't want to push his luck by asking her out. But those three words kept going through his mind. 'I love you.' Had she really meant it or just said anything to try and distract him.  
  
"Well? Are you going to go out with my sister?" asked Lily again. Draco did not know how to answer. If he said 'No', he may offend Nora, if she really had meant the 'I love you' thing. If he said 'Yes', Nora would know how he felt about her, but he may end up looking like a fool because she hadn't meant the 'I love you'. Either way, he'd look stupid, even if his reply did work with how Nora felt about him. The thought of using the form of Apparation seemed very tempting at this moment.  
  
"All right, Lily. That's enough," said Nora strongly.  
  
"But-" began Lily.  
  
"No. Enough is enough. You have got to learn some manners, young lady," scolded Nora, her arms crossed. Lily looked at Harry, who was still holding her, for back up.  
  
"Don't look at me," he told her, patting her head gently. "Your sister's right on this one. It's a bit rude to ask someone personal questions when you've only just met him."  
  
"I didn't just meet him. I met him at Dean's funeral," argued Lily. Harry chuckled.  
  
"Even so. You don't know Draco very well. Unless you know him like we do, you're not to go asking him such question," he told her.  
  
"All right, all right. You sound just like my mum," said Lily. "Sorry," she mumbled to Draco.  
  
"So, did you get the picture we sent you?" asked Hermione, changing the subject. Lily immediately cheered up.  
  
"Yeah. Yeah I did. It was really great. I loved it!" she exclaimed happily.  
  
"Wait," said Nora, and all eyes turned on her.  
  
"What?" asked Ron.  
  
"How come you wanted to know if Draco was going to go out with me?" demanded Nora, looking directly at her sister. She had never told anyone except Hermione, Padma and Justin that she had started going out with him, and she told them they had broken up, too. So then how did Lily know there was something there? 'Is it that obvious!?' She thought horrified.  
  
"Well, in the picture you guys kept kissing. For hours in a row, mind you," Lily told her sister. Nora's mouth fell open as she looked in shock at her sister. Draco wore the exact same expression.  
  
"Wait, they were kissing in the picture?" asked Hermione. Lily nodded.  
  
"You two weren't kissing in real life, were you?" asked Ron, a hint of suspicion in his voice as he looked at them suggestively.  
  
"NO!" yelled both Nora and Draco at the same time. Harry and Hermione chuckled as Ron backed away quickly. Just then a lot more people walked over to them, Dumbledore in the front. He was actually far ahead of their families, but then Dumbledore does take larger strides. Harry, getting a bit tired, put Lily back down on the ground as Dumbledore walked over to them.  
  
"You'll meet your families now, you're friends are coming later, and when you're all sick of each other again I'll take them into the castle and explain everything to them," he said, smiling at them. "I'm sure everyone will be asking you questions as to why you are here, but tell them I will clarify later. One more thing: It would be better if you five told Lily about your part yourselves, as she would comprehend much better. She's still too young for my prose."  
  
"Ok," replied the five students and Lily. They looked at her, eyebrows raised, and then chuckled for one second before every one of them was being pulled into a bone crushing hug by mothers, fathers and, in Ron's case, the two Weasly twins, Fred and George.  
  
"Aw, ickle Ronnikins is growing up so fast," said Fred in a voice that sounded horrifyingly like his mother's as he squeezed Ron more and more.  
  
"And just think," added George as he ruffled Ron's hair and pretended to sob. "Yesterday he was only a little tiny boy, picking his nose and eating whatever came out of it." Ron was by now struggling very hard to break free of the strong grip Fred had, but to no avail, and his face turned more and more blue as he tried to breathe. Finally Mrs. Weasly noticed what her two sons were doing and ran over, shrieking at the top of her lungs.  
  
"Fred! George! Leave him alone! Can't you see you're suffocating him!? My poor Ronnikins! Let him go, Fred!" she shouted as she pried Ron loose of the two twins. "Seriously, one of these days you two are really going to kill him," she muttered. Fred and George shrugged.  
  
"Well, that was our intention, but who cares?" they both said. Ron slowly backed away, laughing nervously. He knew his brothers weren't really trying to kill him, or were they? He remembered they had tried the exact same thing at the funeral in January, and had given their mother a reply that hinted they were doing it on purpose as well. By now, Mrs. Weasly had moved on to Harry, who was receiving a bone-crushing hug much like Fred and George had given Ron. When she finally let go, Mrs. Weasly had tears in her eyes and Harry was panting for breath, though trying to act as though she had not nearly suffocated him. It was then that Harry noticed the whole Weasly family was present, even Bill and Charlie were there, as well as Percy and Ginny and, of course, Mr. Weasly, who walked up to Harry, looking rather excitedly.  
  
"Hey, Harry," he said, patting Harry on the back. Then he looked around, his eyes wide. "This place doesn't have any Muggle items hidden somewhere, does it?"  
  
"Erm. . . not that I know of," replied Harry. Mr. Weasly looked a bit crestfallen.  
  
"Oh. Well, that's too bad, then," he said. "So, how've you been?" Harry told him he'd been all right, he didn't know whether to put in the nightmare that nearly drove him insane.  
  
A few feet away, Narcissa was fussing about with Draco. Giving him hugs and kisses and trying to make his hair look a bit decent.  
  
"Mum, I'm all right," said Draco, trying to fend his mother off. "Mum, you're embarrassing me," he hissed, but on the other hand it felt good to see his mother again. He wondered how she was doing, after Nymphirah's death. He could see dark rings under her eyes and she looked a bit worn out as well. Her eyes didn't hold as much happiness and joy as they did when she'd look at his little sister and she seemed rather thin.  
  
Nora was being smothered with all sorts of hugs and kisses as well, as her mother and father rushed over to her.  
  
"This castle is too dangerous for you children to stay in! It looks like it could fall apart any second!" rattled her mother. Nora rolled her eyes. "Do be careful here, won't you? Won't you!?"  
  
"Yes, mum. I'll be very careful," replied Nora, a bit fed up. Her father was a bit calmer and he smiled encouragingly at his daughter. When Mrs. Glassyd was finally done with her lecture, Mr. Glassyd pulled her away and Sean, Nora's brother, stepped up.  
  
"Hey there little one," he said, smiling.  
  
"I am not little. Lily's the little one," replied Nora, her arm crossed, though she was smiling.  
  
"To me, you're the little one. Lily's the littlest one," said Sean. Nora supposed he was right; he was nearly 2 meters and she must look pretty small to him, and Lily even more so. "So, how are you holding up?" he asked, pulling his sister in a hug.  
  
"I guess I'm all right," replied Nora. "How's Kate?" she asked softly.  
  
"She's fine, now. Though at first she didn't want to believe Dean was dead. But she's fine, now," answered Sean. (A/N: He's married to Dean's sister, Kate. Remember? Probably not. Anyway, the story.)  
  
"Will you be staying all day?" questioned Nora. Sean shook his head.  
  
"Sorry. I have to get back to work soon," he replied.  
  
"Oh. Well, say 'hello' to Kate for me, will you?"  
  
"Uh-huh. You take good care of yourself, remember?" warned Sean. Nora nodded, smiling. "All right, then."  
  
Hermione was trying to explain to her father that she was all right and why she was here without giving away anything about her part in Voldemort's defeat. She wondered how he was holding up, without her mum.  
  
"So, wait. You're here for something special!?" exclaimed her father. Hermione had no idea how he could get worked up about that. 'Something special' could be almost anything. She nodded. "Well, I'll be. My little girl taking part in something 'special'" muttered Mr. Granger. Then he sniffed and Hermione shot him a horrified look.  
  
"Please, dad. You're not going to start crying here, are you?" she muttered. Mr. Granger shook his head, but he sniffed again.  
  
"Of course not, honey," he replied. "It's just. . . my little Hermione, all grown up and here for something 'special'. If only I knew what it was. If only your mother were here to see how much you've grown," he said, looking up at the clear blue sky. A pair of birds flew across it, twittering and flying around each other.  
  
"Yes, well. How are you?" asked Hermione, trying to change the subject before her father got even weirder.  
  
"Fine. Which reminds me: how's Nora holding up?" asked Mr. Granger.  
  
"She's all right, now. But she's changed. We've all changed. There are only very few times when it's as if we're at Hogwarts and just having fun," replied Hermione.  
  
"Like, oh let's think, in the rain?" questioned her father, looking at her knowingly. Hermione grinned impishly.  
  
"Yes. The rain is one of the few things that takes our mind off of everything," she answered, still grinning. Just then Mr. Weasly walked over, looking like a 7 year old who had found a large pile of candy.  
  
"Hi," he said holding out his hand. Mr. Granger shook it.  
  
"Hello," he replied.  
  
"Now, you live in the Muggle world right?" asked Mr. Weasly. Mr. Granger nodded and Hermione could definitely see where this was going, thus she walked over to Nora and her parents. "Could you tell me how exactly does an engine work?" Hermione heard Mr. Weasly ask. She chuckled to herself as she reached Nora.  
  
"Hello," she said brightly to Nora and her family.  
  
"Hello, darling," replied Mrs. Glassyd and she pulled Hermione in a hug. "Good to see you again, and so cheerful as well. How are you doing?"  
  
"I'm fine," replied Hermione.  
  
"Good, good," said Mrs. Glassyd, smiling at the two girls. Then she looked around, searching the area for someone. "Oh, where has Lily gone off to now?" she muttered crossly. Hermione and Nora looked around as well. Nora found her sister first.  
  
"There she is. I'll go get her," she said and walked off to where Lily stood, a few feet away from Harry, Ron and Draco who were all talking, swooning over Draco. "Lily, what on earth are you doing?" asked Nora as she reached her sister.  
  
"Checking out the totally hot Slytherin," came Lily's reply.  
  
"Who, Draco? Really? You like him?" Nora asked in disbelief. Lily shrugged.  
  
"Well he is really, really hot, so. . . maybe," she answered.  
  
"Right, well, mum told me to come get you," said Nora and she dragged her sister off towards their mother.  
  
Draco stood talking to Harry and Ron about Quidditch and how it would be so cool to play for a team like the Chudley Cannons when he heard Nora's voice asking her sister what on earth she was doing. He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Lily gazing at him. Instantly he felt himself turn read.  
  
"Checking out the totally hot Slytherin," came Lily's reply. Draco felt himself turn even redder. He could see Harry and Ron grinning at him and heard Nora ask if Lily liked him.  
  
"Well he's really, really hot, so. . . maybe," replied Lily. Draco blushed even more.  
  
"Looks like you've got yourself a new girlfriend," teased Harry. "And from the same family, too. You'd better be glad Nora's brother is married already, or he'd begin drooling over you as well."  
  
"Oh, stuff it," replied Draco. Harry and Ron laughed.  
  
Nora dragged Lily over to where their parents and Hermione stood.  
  
"Where were young lady?" demanded Mrs. Glassyd.  
  
"I was with Harry," replied Lily.  
  
"No, she was standing a few feet away from him and drooling over Draco," contradicted Nora. Lily glared at her sister.  
  
"Lily, what are we going to do with you," muttered Mrs. Glassyd, but she was still smiling fondly at her youngest daughter.  
  
"Hey! Nora, Hermione! Come here!" shouted Harry and Ron. Both Hermione and Nora said goodbye to Nora's family and then walked over to their friends, talking animatedly about when Terry would finally come. Though they did not see it, Lily was watching her older sister with envy: she wished she had four great friends that she never separated with and she wished she were more like Nora. Her sister was always smiling, well, except for when Dean died, and always had enthusiasm for everything. Nora was even an excellent Quidditch player and Lily knew that she was adored by more than half of the male population at Hogwarts. Lily sighed. She felt so small.  
  
"What is it?" asked Hermione when she and Nora had finally reached Harry, Ron and Draco.  
  
"Well, we were just talking and the three of us are all pretty sick of our parents already, so we thought we'd go to the lake and swim a bit," explained Ron.  
  
"Ooh, can we join? My mum just won't stop nagging at my head," said Nora and Hermione nodded.  
  
"Yeah. I never knew my dad could be so annoying. . . and weird. It's like my mum's death affected his mind," she said, frowning.  
  
"So it's all set, then? We sneak off towards the lake for some fun," said Harry. The others nodded. They all checked to see if no one was watching them. The parents were all talking with each other, about their children, Lily standing sulkily with her parents. Sean was conversing with Bill and Charlie. Percy was busy with his work for the Ministry of Magic, as always, and Fred, George and Ginny had been shown the Quidditch Pitch by Ron and were now up in the air on the Firebolts.  
  
"All right. We should go now, while everyone's busy," said Hermione quietly.  
  
"Wait, shouldn't we tell them with a note or something that we've gone off somewhere. Otherwise they may think we've been kidnapped," said Nora.  
  
"Good point," said Harry. He scribbled a sloppy note and Hermione cast a spell so it would keep floating in the air. Then the five of them ran for it, hoping their sudden movement wasn't noticed by any of the others. They ran towards the forest, hurried into it, darted through the trees, and didn't slow down until they were sure they couldn't be seen. The five of them laughed at their success.  
  
"Good. Now, let's have some fun!" shouted Ron and he began running again towards the lake, the others close behind. When they finally reached it, Hermione cast a spell again, and a second later they were all standing in their swimsuits.  
  
"Now, let's see," said Draco devilishly. "Who of us five are ticklish?" Nora and Hermione completely froze up, knowing perfectly well what was going to happen next. "Oh, yes. The two ladies over there are. How could I forget?" said Draco and he slowly came nearer to them, Harry and Ron closing in as well, all of them smiling evilly. Finally Nora and Hermione were able to move again and they quickly ran away, Hermione seeking refugee in the water and Nora running around it. When she had run a full circle around the lake she stopped dead in her tracks. There, standing in front of her, was Draco. Apparently he had just stood there, waiting for her to finish the circle. Nora mentally slapped herself. She could be so stupid some times. The two of them looked each other in the eyes as Hermione's screams reached their ears. An impish grin spread over Draco's face and Nora, deciding to stop running around the lake, ran into it, Draco following behind.  
  
"Quit it! Quit it!" screamed Hermione over her own laughs as Harry and Ron tickled her sides. Nora dove into the water and swam to the ground, waiting for Draco to come by. He had no idea where Nora had suddenly gone off to and looked around, carefully scanning the area, but she was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, he felt something grab his ankles and he barely had time to shout before he was dragged underneath the surface. He thrashed around as wildly as he could until he saw Nora, grinning evilly at him. He immediately stopped, and glared at her. Then he shot straight towards her and began tickling. Nora tried to escape and swam to the surface. When she broke through the water she took a large gulp of air. Beside her Draco did the same.  
  
"You're evil," they said at the same time. This caused them to add to the laughter that was already sounding through the air. The both of them tried to catch their breath after having stayed under water for so long and just watched in silence as Hermione struggled to escape from the clutches of Harry and Ron.  
  
"We really should help her," said Nora. Draco only shrugged. Neither of them moved. Draco poked Nora in the side once. She smiled, though she kept watching Hermione and her futile attempts to flee. Draco poked her again, a bit harder. Nora let out a giggle and moved away.  
  
"Don't you dare start tickling me again," she threatened, though it wasn't at all intimidating as it was over laughs.  
  
"Try and stop me," replied Draco, closing in on her again. Nora decided to try another tactic, something other than running away screaming. She swam rapidly towards Draco, not at all knowing what on earth she was going to do when she did reach him. When she was about to crash into him he bent down and picked her up so that she was hanging over his shoulder. Nora blinked, needing a moment to remember how she had gotten into this position.  
  
"Let go," she said, trying to squirm herself loose, but unfortunately Draco had a pretty strong grip on her. "Let go," she repeated, while wriggling even more. But it was very hard to try and break free when her face was so close to his ass and she couldn't stop staring at it. (A/N: *drool*) Draco began heading over to the others, wanting to ask them what they were going to do next.  
  
"Hi, Draco," said Harry as he took some time off of torturing Hermione. "What'd you catch?" he added.  
  
"It's this really energetic animal," replied Draco as he tried to stop Nora from squirming. Harry walked around his friend and stopped to look at Nora.  
  
"Why, I don't believe it. That must be the largest swimming deer I have every seen," Harry exclaimed while smirking at Nora. She glared in return and tried to whack him. "Feisty, aren't you?" said Harry, and then he walked around Draco again. Finally Hermione managed to escape from Ron and she ran over to Harry and Draco for cover.  
  
"Why's she over your shoulder?" questioned Hermione bewildered as she saw Nora. Draco shrugged.  
  
"I felt like annoying her," he replied simply.  
  
"I see. Ooh! That gives me an idea for a game we could play!" exclaimed Hermione.  
  
"Really what?" asked the other four intrigued.  
  
"Well, me and Nora could each get on one of your shoulders and then try to push each other off. It's not a great idea, but at least we'll be doing something other than torturing some of us," she added glaring at Harry and Ron. They just smiled innocently in return.  
  
"But there'll be one of us left," said Draco.  
  
"Well, one of you could be the referee," Hermione said.  
  
"I'll be the referee!" shouted Ron immediately.  
  
"All right," said the others.  
  
"Now," began Hermione. "As you, Nora, are already on one of Draco's shoulders, it will only make sense that you team up with him and I'll team up with Harry." Nora gave an indignant cry.  
  
"Why do I have to pair up with Draco!? He's evil, I tell you! EVIL!" she shouted.  
  
"Oh, quit whining. You wouldn't help me when Harry and Ron kept attacking," replied Hermione.  
  
"Hmmm. True," said Nora. "All right, I'll team up with Draco, but if he doesn't let me go soon SOMEONE WILL HAVE A VERY BAD HEADACHE IN THE MORNING!" She yelled loudly. She was immediately dropped, of course. "Much better," she said as she stood up. Both Harry and Draco went underwater so that the two girls could climb onto their shoulders. When they were both seated the two guys rose out of the water and wobbled slightly.  
  
"Whoa, hold steady, you wuss," said Nora, though it wasn't harshly.  
  
"I would be able to, if someone wasn't such a fat cow," replied Draco.  
  
"Well, I've never!" said Nora in fake resentment. Draco snorted as he made his way towards Harry. And thus the battle began. Hermione and Nora struggled to throw each other off, but no luck yet. Ron had run out of the water a long time ago and was now standing on top of the large rock, ready to jump into the water.  
  
"Uh-oh," said Nora. She had been watching what on earth Ron was doing and hadn't been able to stop Hermione before it was too late. She tried to hold her balance, but it was impossible and she fell into the water. Hermione and Harry raised their arms in victory. Draco whispered something to Nora and she nodded, grinning evilly. The two of them snuck up to Harry and Hermione who were making a small victory lap around the lake, which made no sense at all, and swiftly pulled Hermione off of Harry's shoulders. The both of them shouted in surprise.  
  
"Foul!" the both of them yelled, searching for Ron, but the referee was currently busy doing a summersault in the air as he jumped off of the large rock again, beside the waterfall, and didn't hear them. Nora looked around, scanning the area, not for Ron, but for someone else. She looked scared as her eyes darted everywhere. Nora was almost positive she was going insane, but she was also pretty sure that she could hear a voice yelling, "send 'em off, ref! Red card!" It scared her. It was exactly what Dean had yelled at Harry's first Quidditch game in their first year, and it scared her.  
  
"What's wrong?" asked Draco, seeing Nora's frightened and desperate look. She closed her eyes, shook her head and opened her eyes again.  
  
"Nothing," she replied. 'Just hearing voices' she added in her thought.  
  
"Oh. All right, then," said Draco, but he kept shooting anxious glances her way for the next few minutes.  
  
"Hey, isn't that your sister?" he asked, a while later, stopping mid- battle, pointing to the path that led back to the castle. Nora followed his gaze and her mouth fell open.  
  
"It is," she replied. Draco slowly went underwater, letting Nora get off his shoulders to go to Lily. She swam rapidly through the water and ran on to the shore.  
  
"How on earth did you get here, Lily? Do mum and dad know you left?" asked Nora worriedly.  
  
"Yes. They said to go find you because they were going to get something explained by Dumbledore," replied Lily. "Where's Harry?" she then asked. Nora rolled her eyes.  
  
"He's over there," she answered, pointing to where Harry, Hermione, Ron and Draco were in the water. Lily immediately began running, but Nora held her back. "Let's get you into a bathing suit first," she said and then cast the switching spell Hermione had used before. Lily's clothes immediately turned into a bathing suit and together the two made their way over to the others.  
  
"Harry!" shouted Lily and she swam as fast as she could. Nora frowned at her sister, wondering how on earth she could be so damn fond of Harry. When Nora reached the others Lily was once again in Harry's arms.  
  
"Merlin, woman, you swim slower than a Flobberworm," said Ron, Nora smiled at him a little too friendly.  
  
"Keep it going like that, and you'll be a Flobberworm," she threatened.  
  
"So what do we do now?" asked Draco. He could feel Lily's eyes boring through him, and he definitely didn't like it. When Lily finally looked away from him he inched over to Nora and whispered "Save me!"  
  
"Maybe I won't. Serves you right since you wouldn't put me back down for ages," she whispered back. Draco looked at her in a mock hurt expression.  
  
"Aw, come on. It's not like I haven't teased you before, like you haven't teased me, for that matter," he replied.  
  
"True," said Nora.  
  
"So you'll help me?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Hag," whispered Draco sourly. Nora just smiled sweetly at him.  
  
"Dumbledore said you five would explain to me what he's explaining to mum and dad right now," said Lily, looking at them expectantly. The five older students looked away, pretending to be busy with other things. They really didn't want to explain their part in the defeat of Voldemort to her. For one thing, she might get scared. For another, it was just so much easier if Dumbledore did it for them.  
  
"Come on! I just turned 11! You can tell me!" said Lily, miffed that everyone was treating her like a little girl.  
  
"All right. We'll go to the shore and then tell you," said Hermione. Lily beamed and then urged Harry to the shore. When they were all finally out of the water the six of them sat in a small circle, Lily seating herself in Harry's lap.  
  
"Go on, tell me," she whined, not being able to bear staying in the dark any longer.  
  
"All right," said Nora who was sitting next to Harry and her sister. "But promise you won't overreact."  
  
"Erm. . . I promise," Lily said a little hesitantly. "Tell me!" she then pleaded.  
  
"We all have a part in Voldemort's defeat," said Harry.  
  
"Oh," was all that came out of Lily's mouth. When she finally registered what he had said she looked at all of them. "All of you?"  
  
"Uh-huh," said the five older students.  
  
"And what do you have to do, then?" asked Lily, a bit scared.  
  
"Well, me and Draco fight Voldemort and, hopefully, eventually kill him," answered Harry.  
  
"And Hermione, Ron and I we just fight the Death Eaters and our presence helps Harry and Draco fight better," said Nora. Lily looked at her, her brown eyes frightened.  
  
"How do you know this?" she asked.  
  
"A Prophecy was made about us. Well, actually about me, Harry, Hermione and Ron. Draco only got a part in it this year," replied Nora.  
  
"So this was already known when you were born?"  
  
"Before that, even," said Hermione.  
  
"Are you going to die?" questioned Lily, an uncomfortable feeling settling in her stomach; Maybe, in a few weeks, none of them would be alive, and she wouldn't have an older sister anymore, or Harry. She looked at the five intently, hoping very much they would shake their head laughing and say: "Of course not, silly. None of us is going to die." But to her misery they all shrugged and mumbled some things.  
  
"We don't know," replied Harry softly. "We might or we might not. We'll just have to wait and see how it turns out."  
  
"But you can't die," whispered Lily, and everyone was sad to see that thick pearly tears were rolling down her cheeks. "I need you guys."  
  
"But you're not the only one who needs us," said Nora. Lily looked at her. "Every other person in the world needs us, too. If we don't fight, Voldemort will be free to reign the world and many, many more people will be killed. Just think of all the little children whose parents will be, or were, murdered by him. And it'd be good for us to fight him, too. Revenge will be sweet. Think of Harry, he has neither parents nor a godfather, all because of Voldemort. Hermione, she has no mother anymore, and Draco," Nora smiled weakly at her sister. "Draco lost his little sister, just a few months ago. She was only your age." Lily's bottom lip quivered as she looked at Draco, but this time it wasn't the searching, hungry look she had given him before, this time it was filled with sorrow.  
  
"Ain't that just the way that life goes down, down, down, down." Everyone turned to look at Hermione, who had all of a sudden sung a single line. She blushed while muttering "sorry."  
  
"When are you going to have to fight Vol-. . . him?" asked Lily.  
  
"We don't know," answered Nora.  
  
"But then how will you be prepared?"  
  
"Well, we have been practicing very hard ever since we arrived here," Nora said. Then she disappeared.  
  
"NORA!?" shouted Lily in fright.  
  
"Calm down. Over here," said Nora. Lily looked to her left and saw her older sister standing behind Hermione.  
  
"How'd you do that?"  
  
"It's a form of Apparation. We all learned," answered Hermione and before Lily had time to blink she, too, had disappeared and reappeared behind Draco.  
  
"Ooooh," said Lily in aw.  
  
"Anything else you want to know?" asked Ron. Lily nodded.  
  
"Why does he kill so many people and make them sad?" she asked quietly.  
  
"Because he's a Slytherin," replied Ron. The others rolled their eyes at Ron's answer, but Lily blinked.  
  
"But Draco's a Slytherin, too," she said confused.  
  
"What Ron meant to say," began Hermione. "Was that Voldemort is just pure evil. He wants to be the most powerful wizard in the world and he thinks that he can accomplish that by gaining many stupid followers and murdering numerous innocent people."  
  
"No, I said it right. He is a Slytherin," argued Ron. Hermione just sighed and shook her head at Ron.  
  
"If Draco is in Slytherin, isn't he evil, too? Sean once said that all the stupid, ugly and mean students get sorted into Slytherin," Lily told them, the confused expression still present on her young and innocent face.  
  
"Well, students are sorted into Slytherin because they have great cunning-" began Harry, but Lily interrupted him.  
  
"What's 'cunning'?"  
  
"It means they're smart and good at making plans and stuff."  
  
"Which is why Draco's in there?"  
  
"I guess," said Harry, shrugging.  
  
A/N: uh-oh. Writers block.  
  
"But you'll be careful, won't you? When you fight him?" Lily asked, her eyebrows in a sad frown. The five older students nodded.  
  
"We'll be dead careful. I promise," said Nora and she gave her little sister, who was still sitting on Harry's lap, a kiss on her forehead. Lily smiled.  
  
"Let's go back to the castle. I think Dumbledore will be done explaining now, and the sooner our parents start rambling about how dangerous everything will be, the sooner we get it over with," muttered Ron as he got up. The others nodded and together they walked through the dark forest heading back towards the castle.  
  
"Hmmm. It's not raining, is it?" asked Nora, looking up towards the sky.  
  
"Merlin. You only just got out of the water and you already want to get wet?" asked Ron. Nora shrugged.  
  
"I just feel like running around in it," she replied.  
  
"Me too," agreed Hermione and she grinned at Nora, who returned it. They linked arms and skipped ahead, wanting to see if it was or wasn't raining. They couldn't see in the forest; the trees were so heavily packed that even sunlight had a hard time making it's way through the many leaves.  
  
"Mad," muttered Harry, Ron and Draco together. Lily looked at them.  
  
"Who's mad?" she asked. Harry smiled at her.  
  
"No one is. Let's hurry up a bit, before those two do something stupid," he told Ron and Draco, who nodded. The four of them hurried through the forest, only to find Nora and Hermione standing right by the edge of it, pouting.  
  
"No rain, then?" asked Draco, smirking at them. Hermione and Nora hit him as hard as they could on the arms. "All right. I deserved that," Draco muttered while rubbing his arms.  
  
"So what do we do now?" questioned Harry.  
  
"Eat," replied Ron  
  
"Besides eat," said Hermione.  
  
"Eat," answered Ron simply.  
  
"Other than eat,"  
  
"Eat."  
  
"Can't you think of anything else but 'eat'?"  
  
"Eat."  
  
"Ron, be quiet," said Nora.  
  
"Eat!"  
  
"Don't make me cast a silencing charm," she threatened.  
  
"Eat? Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat."  
  
"That's it," snarled Nora. "Silencio!" and finally Ron fell silent.  
  
"Thank Merlin," muttered Harry, Nora, Hermione and Draco at the same time. They turned to look at Lily; her laughter had gotten their attention. They followed her gaze and saw Ron writing the words "EAT FOOD" in the air with an orange light that came from his wand.  
  
"You know, I'm kind of hungry as well," said Draco softly. Nora spun around and hit him on the arm.  
  
"What did I do?" said Draco indignantly, looking at the place on his arm where he had been hit.  
  
"You annoyed me," replied Nora simply.  
  
"That's not true. If Ron hadn't gotten you all worked up I wouldn't have irritated you," argued Draco. Nora shrugged.  
  
"Well then there's probably something you may have done a long time ago that annoyed me then and you're paying for it now," she said.  
  
"Then you've probably done something a long time ago that annoyed me then, and you're going to pay for it now, as well," said Draco, smiling at his own cunningness.  
  
"You can't hit girls," said Nora stupidly.  
  
"No," agreed Draco. "But I can tickle them." Nora looked horror struck.  
  
"You wouldn't," she hissed. "At least, not again today."  
  
"Watch me," whispered Draco and a second later Nora shrieked and ran out of the forest and over the clearing in front of the castle as fast as she could, Draco right behind her.  
  
"It's good not to be at the receiving end of tickles for once," said Hermione as she watched the two sprint over the grass. Ron, who would usually have responded that comment with tickles, was now too busy writing silly sentences in the air with his wand for Lily's amusement and Harry was just too tired to start tickling Hermione again.  
  
"Aaah!" screamed Nora as Draco pounced and pinned her to the ground. She struggled hard to escape from his strong grip, but her strength failed her as Draco began tickling. Mid-laugh she stopped though and thought: 'What the hell am I doing!?' Then she concentrated hard, trying to stop giggling for a few seconds, and finally she succeed in Apparating away. Draco looked a few meters to the left where Nora stood, trying to regain her breath.  
  
"That certainly took you long enough!" he called to her. "And you call yourself a witch!" Nora just stuck out her tongue, unable to come up with a better come back. Draco laughed at her childishness.  
  
"All right. Ron's annoyance has convinced us all. Let's go eat," said Hermione as she reached them. There was a loud cheer to be heard coming from Ron.  
  
"You took my silencing charm off?" said Nora indignantly.  
  
"Yes. I had to, or he'd begin tickling me," replied Hermione.  
  
"Blackmailer," muttered Nora to Ron who had just arrived with Harry and Lily. The six of them entered the castle and Lily tried hard not to gape at the beautiful room. All five, Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco, had to drag Lily into the Dining Room with difficulty. As soon as they sat down, Lily in Dumbledore's seat, food appeared and Ron gave a groan with longing as he tried to pile everything on his plate at once. As usual the others were lot slower and chewed everything a few times, instead of shoving it into their mouths and swallowing it all at once.  
  
When they were all done eating, about an hour later, the six of them leaned back in their chairs contently. Draco glanced at his watch, did a double take and stared at it in shock.  
  
"What?" asked Hermione who had noticed his weird behaviour.  
  
"It's already 6 o'clock," he said.  
  
"WHAT!?" shouted the others.  
  
"No way," said Ron checking his own watch. He shook it a couple of times and checked it again. "Hmmm," he then muttered.  
  
"What's so bad about it being 6 o'clock already?" questioned Lily.  
  
"Nothing much, its just time went by really fast and we didn't notice," replied Harry shrugging. "Hey, didn't Dumbledore say our 'friends' would be arriving as well?"  
  
"Ooh, yes. Let's go into the Entrance Hall and wait for them!" exclaimed Hermione, suddenly looking very excited and full of energy. She then jumped out of her chair and exited the Dining Room.  
  
"Wow," muttered Draco as Harry and Ron ran out of the Dining Room in full blast as well.  
  
"You can say that again," said Nora as she got out of her chair, though slowly and decently.  
  
"Wow," said Draco with a confused look on his face.  
  
"It's a saying, moron. Seriously, sometimes you're as dim as Ron," Nora told him.  
  
"I am not," argued Draco offended.  
  
"Let's go, Lily," said Nora, leading her sister into the Entrance Hall, ignoring Draco's last words. There, in the hall, were already three couples furiously making out. Nora immediately backed into the Dining Room, dragging Lily along with her, and tumbled over Draco, who had been right behind them.  
  
"Oof," said Draco as he landed on the floor, Nora on top of him. Lily had managed to grab hold of the table and was still standing. "What's with the backing up?" asked Draco as Nora rolled off of him and seated herself on the ground. She glanced at Lily and then leaned forward to whisper something in Draco's ear.  
  
"I'm not going to go blind, you know, if I see them kissing," said Lily, crossing her arms.  
  
"I know you won't, but I thought they may want some privacy," Nora told her as Draco helped her up.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Many, many, many mind killing minutes later the three of them were sitting on the floor, still in the Dining Room, playing the same awful game for the millionth time.  
  
"Is it red?" asked Nora wearily, wishing she were ANYWHERE but here, playing this stupid game.  
  
"No," replied Lily happily.  
  
"Is it yellow?" asked Draco, bored out of his skull.  
  
"No," replied Lily, smiling cheerfully, obviously not noticing the very large lack of interest from the other two.  
  
"Does it have hair?" said Nora, saying whatever entered her head, and playing this game only for Lily's entertainment.  
  
"Yes," Lily answered.  
  
"Is it blonde?" asked Nora, catching on.  
  
"Yes," replied Lily, looking less happy by the guess.  
  
"Is it Whisky?" asked Nora after a looooong sigh. Lily frowned.  
  
"Hmpf. You guessed too quickly," muttered Lily.  
  
"Whisky?" questioned Draco, looking at the two sisters.  
  
"One of our golden retrievers," replied Nora sullenly.  
  
"What's the other one named, Scotch?" he said sarcastically.  
  
"Vodka," replied Lily happily. Draco raised an eyebrow.  
  
"All right, let's go," said Nora quickly, afraid Lily would start another game again. "They'll have had plenty of privacy by now." The three of them exited the Dining Room and entered a very empty Entrance Hall.  
  
"Well, they didn't really miss us a lot, did they?" asked Draco, looking around. Nora glowered. She walked outside, in the cool air.  
  
"Not here either," she told Lily and Draco as they followed her out.  
  
"Oh well," Lily said happily. "All right, I've got another item in my mind!" she then exclaimed. Draco groaned but Nora ran off of the front steps and over the clearing.  
  
"Wait! Where are you going!?" shouted Draco. "Don't leave me behind here!" he added desperately; what if he was forced to play the game again!? He watched as Nora stopped and lay down on the grass. "What the-?" he muttered.  
  
"Let's go," Lily told him and she dragged his hand and pulled him over to where Nora was lying.  
  
"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" questioned Draco when he had finally reached her with Lily.  
  
"Doing something a whole lot more fun," replied Nora. Draco looked at her as if she were mad. "I'm watching the sky," Nora told him, answering his unasked question. Draco lay down next to her, wondering what was so special about the sky. Lily lay down in between them and looked up at the sky as well.  
  
"Oooh, pretty," she exclaimed. Draco thought she had a point, though he wouldn't have said it in her words. Since it was a bit after 7, time sure flies when you're bored the hell out of your skull, the sun had started to set as night prepared itself.  
  
"You sure have the weirdest ways to entertain yourself," Draco said. "Dancing in the rain, lying in the grass watching twilight. . . but I have to say, it's rather relaxing."  
  
"It's entertainment through nature. Beats watching television, doesn't it?" replied Nora.  
  
"Beats tillie- what?"  
  
"Oh, right. You wouldn't know. Never mind that. But it beats most of the other things you've done, doesn't it?" Draco nodded, only to remember that she wouldn't be able to see it.  
  
"Yeah. . . yeah it does," he replied. They watched as sunlight grew dimmer, only to be drowned by the darkness of the night, tiny little specks that were stars glinting brightly and happily above them. Sometimes a cold breeze would sweep over them, but the wind stayed low most of the time, almost as if it knew such a wonderful night should not be disturbed.  
  
"Makes you feel pretty insignificant, doesn't it?" asked Nora softly a long while later as she roamed the sky, looking for her favourite stars. Draco rolled on his side and leaned on one elbow, so he could look at her over Lily, who had slowly fallen asleep.  
  
"What do you mean 'makes you feel pretty insignificant?' We're the only ones who can stop Voldemort from taking over the world and killing half of the population. I'd say we were rather important," he told her. Nora turned her head to the side and looked at him.  
  
"You know what I mean," she said. Draco flashed her a grin.  
  
"Yes. Yes, I do. But I feel less significant than I did when I was younger," he replied. Nora smiled and turned to look at the stars again. Draco saw the stars reflect in her sorrow-filled eyes. He noticed she had the look of a person forced to grow up too quickly. Did he look like that as well? And the others? After watching her for a few more seconds he lay back down and continued watching the stars as well, wondering what was written in them. He wondered if they would still be alive in a few weeks time, if they would ever be given the fortunate chance of living without fear again and if the sorrowed looks, engraved in their faces and eyes, would ever leave.  
  
"We'd better get this one to bed," said Nora when Lily had turned over in her sleep and cuddled up to her older sister. Draco stared at her blankly; he had been so drowned in his own thoughts that he had not heard a single word she had said. "Bed. Lily. Sleeeeep," Nora told him with the air of explaining something to a very thick person, which was sometimes a bit true.  
  
"Oh, right," said Draco and he got up, too. Nora picked the still sleeping Lily up in her arms and together the three of them headed towards the castle, two of them drowned in their own thoughts again as the wind picked up and blew around them. When they had finally reached their bedrooms Nora and Draco said goodbye to each other and each entered their own room. Nora laid Lily down in her bed and pulled the covers over her. She then went out on her balcony, which was on the side of the castle and overlooked the clearing, and watched the sky. She was finally free to think of what she had heard by the lake. Dean's voice echoing through it. It had run through her mind the whole day, but only now was she really paying it attention. It had sounded as if he had really been there, but she knew he wasn't. . . or was he? Nora didn't know. His voice had sounded so close, and so real, but it might as well have been her imagination. She felt like she was losing it. At some times she would feel perfectly happy and normal, as she had in the earlier years at Hogwarts, but at other times she felt as if she could just break down completely and cry all day/night long. Her eyes wandered over to the forest and she had to know. Yes, she knew she was being silly, but checking couldn't hurt, could it? Nora walked back in, checked to see if Lily was still fast asleep and then snuck out of the room and down the stairs, not even thinking of grabbing a cloak or sweater.  
  
She swiftly opened the doors and walked outside. Once in the cool fresh air she broke into a run and headed towards the forest, the form of Apparation drowned out of her mind by the thought of Dean. She darted through the trees and ran deeper into the forest. When she reached the lake she just plopped down into the sand and looked around, catching her breath. She scanned everything thoroughly, but she saw nothing out of the ordinary.  
  
"Dean?" Nora whispered quietly. No answer. She knew she was being stupid, but her heart sank. Now was a good time to let all of her held in tears go. It wouldn't help, it wouldn't bring Dean back, but she'd feel a slight bit better. So she sobbed. She just sat there in the middle of a large dark forest, not knowing where in the world it was, and sobbed, giving involuntary jerks as she cried into her hands. When she had calmed down a bit she looked around again through tearful eyes, sniffing every now and then, and without even knowing it she began to sing the song that had helped her through many dark times before.  
  
Draco walked through the forest slowly. He hadn't been able to sleep; too many thoughts kept rushing through his mind so he went outside and made his way to the lake. He always went there when he wanted to think, and talk. He always went outside, to a secluded area, and talked. He talked to Nymphirah, telling her what had happened and what he was feeling, as if she was there, listening to every word he said. . . and maybe she was, who knew? When he walked around the large bush that hid the lake from view he stopped in his tracks. He could hear someone, or something, singing. He strained his ears and recognized the song as the one Nora had been singing to him after Voldemort tried to deprive him of his sanity. Draco guessed it was probably Nora who was sitting there on the sand singing, though this time it wasn't in a beautiful clear voice. This time it was in a broken voice and after every few words she would pause, sniff, and then give an involuntary jerk as she starting crying again. Draco slowly walked over to her.  
  
"You know. It's not safe for young a woman your age to sit alone in the middle of a dark forest without any protection," said Draco as he stopped beside her, looking down at her. Nora snapped her head towards him and then hastily wiped her tears away.  
  
"Merlin, Draco. You scared the hell out of me," she said, giving a weak smile. As much as she had wished her voice to sound normal and casual, it was more strangled and hoarse. Draco sat down next to her.  
  
"What are you doing here?" he asked, not really knowing what to say.  
  
"Well, cry as you may have guessed," replied Nora miserably, not in the mood to keep hiding it anymore. "What about you?"  
  
"Couldn't sleep, so I came to talk," he answered. Nora looked at him confusedly.  
  
"With who? Surely you didn't know I'd be out here as well?" she asked. Draco shook his head.  
  
"With Nymphirah," he said. This did not really improve Nora's vision of him being weird. "I just talk out loud and pretend she's out there, watching over me, listening to every word I say. Sometimes I can even hear her mirthful laugh when I tell her I've done something stupid again," Draco explained, feeling quite silly. "But I know she's not listening. That she's not there watching me."  
  
"How do you know?" asked Nora. Draco shrugged.  
  
"I just do. I don't believe there's a heaven, so she can't be floating around in it, watching me and laughing as I do something dumb," he replied.  
  
"I don't believe in heaven either, but that doesn't mean the ones long gone aren't watching over us," Nora told him. Draco looked at her.  
  
"Really? So you mean she's always floating around me, watching what I do?" he asked hopefully.  
  
"Well not all the time," began Nora, but on seeing Draco's hopeful look falter, she added hastily: "But then at night you can always tell her about the things she missed. Like how you spent a whole hour playing a silly mind killing brain with me and my sister in the Dining Room." Draco chuckled.  
  
"Yeah. I bet she probably tuned out on that one. I don't think even she could have stayed interested in that for too long," he said. Nora chuckled. After fifteen minutes of silence Draco got up. Nora looked at him.  
  
"Where are you going?" she asked, not really wanting to be left all alone.  
  
"Bed. I feel much better than I've felt all day. I think I'll be able to sleep now," Draco replied.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"You should go to bed, too. It's getting awfully late," he said. Nora shrugged. "Come. You're going to bed as well." And he helped her up. The two of them walked silently through the dark forest. Owls hooted every now and then, adding to the creepiness of the woods. Only when they reached the castle, a while later, did Nora feel completely safe. The both of them walked up the steps and into the hall towards their bedrooms. They said goodnight and each entered their own room. Nora checked to see Lily was still sleeping and then fell on top of the covers, falling asleep instantly, not even bothering to change into her nightclothes or getting under the bedspread.  
  
A/N: Ooh, another long chapter. A bit more Nora and Draco than I expected, but I hope you liked it anyway. Review, please?  
  
Lillypotterfan - I'm so glad you like my story so much! I'm so happy I could just float out the window. . . but I won't, because this still has to be put up on ff.net. Anyway, I'm really glad you think the Nora character is a great addition, I don't think many people like the fact that there's another main character. But you do, yay! And I'm also glad you're reading my story, even though you'd prefer H/G and R/Hr. Thanks for reading and reviewing! It's very much appreciated (as you may have already noticed.) =) 


	37. Sibling Rivalry and Quarrels

A/N: Hope you still enjoy reading my story. =) (and reviewing it) *hint* *hint*  
  
Chapter 37: Sibling Rivalry and Quarrels  
  
Nora woke due to an unknown movement on her bed. She slowly opened her eyes and found herself staring in two pairs of brown ones. Not really knowing how to react, she compromised by giving a large shout, rolling off of her bed and landing painfully on the ground. The owners of the brown eyes quickly went over to her and helped her up.  
  
"Why does everybody have to sneak up on me all the time?" muttered Nora angrily while brushing herself off.  
  
"Aw, we didn't mean to hurt you. We were just wondering how you were!" said a voice Nora recognized all to well. She looked up and saw Parvati and Lavender standing in front of her, smiling broadly. Nora grinned.  
  
"I should've known," she said as she hugged both girls. Parvati and Lavender smiled.  
  
"We just wanted to see you again," said Parvati. "It seems like ages." Lavender nodded, but her face turned serious shortly after.  
  
"How are you doing?" she demanded. The two girls looked at Nora, pity in their eyes. Nora shrugged.  
  
"I'm all right, I guess," she replied. "I've been better, of course. LILY!" She shouted when she had looked at her now empty bed.  
  
"It's all right," said Lavender, trying to calm Nora down.  
  
"Where is she?" Nora demanded.  
  
"Harry came in a while before to take her for a walk with him, Ron and Hermione and Terry," explained Parvati.  
  
"Why didn't anyone tell me? If you two hadn't been here to tell me I'd probably have freaked out!" she said.  
  
"Well, we didn't want to wake you up, you looked so tired," Parvati told her and Lavender nodded.  
  
"I do not look tired," muttered Nora. The other two girls laughed.  
  
"You stubborn little cow," said Lavender, while giggling.  
  
"Well, that is what I'm known for," said Nora proudly. The other two girls giggled even more.  
  
"Come on, let's get you cleaned up," Parvati finally managed to choke out over her laughs as she and Lavender grabbed Nora by the arms and dragged her into the bathroom.  
  
More than an hour later the three of them finally exited the bathroom, Nora all showered, dressed and completely ready to start the day. She wondered why Parvati and Lavender had insisted on doing her hair, make- up and clothes but the thought was soon forgotten when they headed for breakfast. . . lunch, actually.  
  
"So where did you guys go yesterday?" asked Nora. "I saw you in the hall but an hour later you were all gone."  
  
"Well, Terry, Lavender and I got another explanation from Harry, Ron and Hermione about your part in the defeat of You-Know-Who," began Parvati.  
  
"Yes, and then we got a tour around the castle and a large midnight snack," finished Lavender.  
  
"Sounds like fun," said Nora as they entered the Dining Room. "I was stuck playing stupid, mind-killing games with my little sister."  
  
"Lily told us Draco was there as well, so it couldn't have been that bad," Parvati told her as the three of them sat down and food instantly appeared on the table.  
  
"Yeah, I guess. If he hadn't been there I'd have run away screaming and tearing my hair out after the first few games," Nora said shrugging. Parvati and Lavender watched her with a look that said We-Know-You-Love-Him- So-Stop-Pretending-And-Acting-Like-You-Don't. They held that look for the first few minutes during which Nora tried to eat her breakfast, but it was impossible while Parvati and Lavender's eyes were boring through her. Nora put her knife and fork down and sighed, hating her best friends for telling the two that she had gone out with Draco.  
  
"I don't love him, all right? It was just a stupid mistake. A rebound thing. Stop staring," she said, trying to avoid the looks Parvati and Lavender were giving her. "Stop staring," she repeated.  
  
"We're not staring, nor did we say you love him," replied Lavender.  
  
"You didn't say it but it's so clear you might as well have written it all over your faces," Nora told them. She sighed again, not wanting to talk to them about this. What had occurred between her and Draco was between the five of them, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Draco and her, and Padma and Justin, who had been around when the two of them had started dating. Parvati and Lavender could be so nosy sometimes and, now that they knew, the rest of Hogwarts were bound to know within a day as well. Gossip spreads quickly, especially if it's from the two Gryffindor girls.  
  
"So we think you still love Draco, it's no reason to get all offended. Only you know how you feel, we're just guessing here," Parvati said. Nora shrugged and began eating again. When she was nearly finished the doors to the Dining Room opened and in walked Draco, looking very messy. He had not done his hair, nor had he shaved or bothered to get dressed properly. Nora tried hard not to laugh, but the sock on his ear looked highly ridiculous, as did the shoe on his left hand.  
  
"'Morning," said Draco groggily.  
  
"Morning," replied Nora, trying very, very, very hard not to laugh, or at least trying hard to stifle it a bit. Parvati and Lavender suppressed giggles, too, but they got up, grabbed hold of Draco and dragged him out of the Dining Room saying things like "Oh dear, that won't do," and "Let's get you dressed properly, now shall we?" Nora wondered vaguely what they were on about, first dressing her all up and now Draco. She finished her breakfast and walked outside, noticing, to her annoyance, that the beautiful weather from the days before had already left and that it was now replaced by gray skies that rumbled faintly every so often. Nora looked around, in search for her sister or the others, but they were nowhere to be seen. So, left all alone in a large area, she walked over the clearing, chose a nice spot and lay down, watching the clouds move overhead and birds fly by. Nora wondered how long it had been since she had done this. Not counting the weeks here in the Concave Castle, she figured it must've been a pretty long time ago. Above her the skies slowly turned from gray to dark gray. She liked lying on her back and watching the sky, it always made her forget her problems, and the time. Nora had no idea how long she had been lying on her back and was completely lost in the sky until she heard a pop next to her and her outlook of it was obstructed.  
  
"You're blocking my view, Draco," she said, staring straight into his blue/gray eyes, which were looking down on her and had replaced the sky.  
  
"Tell me, how long are you planning to stay out here?" he asked, ignoring what she had said. Nora shrugged.  
  
"As long as I want to," she told him.  
  
"Yeah, well, you better get inside before it starts raining or you'll go all weird again, and this time I'm not dragging you back in nor am I going to help make a potion to cure your cold."  
  
"You look a little flushed," stated Nora bluntly, ignoring his lecture.  
  
"I had to make quite a sprint to escape from the clutches of Parvati and Lavender," he said shrugging.  
  
"Now who forgot to use the form of Apparation?" she asked smiling, still lying on the ground and looking up at him. Draco rolled his eyes.  
  
"All right, so I forgot, but it's only the first time," he said, smiling back. The sky rumbled dangerously again.  
  
"DRACO!" called out two voices, belonging to Parvati and Lavender. The color drained from his face and he gulped. Nora grinned at him.  
  
"You'd better run or they'll catch up and put make-up on you or something," she told him. Draco gulped again and a second later his face was no longer blocking the sky and his footsteps could be heard. Nora rolled over on her stomach and watched him run away in the direction of the Quidditch Pitch. "APPARATE, YOU MORON!" she shouted and a second later Draco was gone. Nora shook her head and rolled onto her back again, watching the sky. A minute later Parvati and Lavender were standing beside her, looking very red in the face.  
  
"Not fair," said Lavender pouting.  
  
"You guys know how to Apparate," added Parvati. Nora grinned and then got up; Draco was right. If it began raining and she was in it, the rest of her day would be completely ruined and she really didn't want that. Together the three of them walked back to the castle, there they would figure out what to do next.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"So where are our parents?" asked Hermione as she walked into the Entrance Hall with Terry, Harry, Lily and Ron.  
  
"I think they're meeting with Dumbledore in his office," replied Terry. The main doors opened and they turned to heads to see Nora, Parvati and Lavender walk in.  
  
"Hey," the eight of them said together. They all laughed before Parvati and Lavender immediately rushed to Harry and Ron to start a snogging session. To Nora's relief Hermione and Terry didn't begin one and she walked over to them, giving Lily a big hug first.  
  
"Hi, Terry. Long time since I've seen you," said Nora happily. Terry smiled at her.  
  
"Yeah. It's been what. . . 5 months?" he said, looking at Hermione, who nodded. Terry turned back to Nora. "So, how've you been? Enjoyed the trip a bit before you were dragged here?" He asked. Nora grinned, feeling so unbelievably relieved and happy that he wasn't acting weird like their families and Parvati and Lavender. And he also didn't look at her with pity and sympathy, he just looked. . . normal. His looks, actions and words didn't keep reminding her of her troubles and she was grateful for it.  
  
"Yeah. It was pretty interesting. What about you? Were you able to manage so long without Hermione?" Terry chuckled as Hermione blushed.  
  
"It's been difficult without her, mostly because she was the smartest one and had to help us with the tasks, but I'm spending every hour of this next week with her to make up for the lost times," he replied. Nora smiled, pleased that at least Hermione had found the right guy. 'Ah, in denial now are we?' said the little annoying voice that seemed to have come back again. Nora ignored.  
  
"Well, then, I won't be getting in your way," she said, already knowing it was going to be a lonely week; Harry and Parvati, Ron and Lavender and Hermione and Terry together all the time. 'It'll just be us, then' she told the little annoying voice. 'All righty!' it exclaimed happily. Inwardly Nora groaned and sulked, but on the outside she appeared happy and mirthful, like always.  
  
"Say, where's Draco?" asked Hermione suddenly, looking around the Entrance Hall where only the eight of them stood.  
  
"He Apparated away to escape from Parvati and Lavender. They were getting him all groomed and dressed up and stuff. It was very weird. They kept insisting on doing my hair and make-up," replied Nora, her wondering thought about the two girls returning to her. "I wonder why. . ." Hermione looked uncomfortably at her shoes and then at Terry, who urged her on. "What?" asked Nora suspiciously.  
  
"Well. . . erm. . . well, you probably already know we told them about you dating Draco and how you broke up and stuff. . ." began Hermione softly, not wanting the others to hear. She looked pleadingly at Terry again but he shook his head.  
  
"Yeah, so?" said Nora, confused by Hermione's behavior. Her best friend sighed.  
  
"Well, when we finished telling them, they immediately began forming a plan to get you two together again," finished Hermione hurriedly. Nora rolled her eyes and sighed as well.  
  
"Have you any idea what their plan is?" she asked. Both Hermione and Terry shook their heads. "Well, whatever it is, it won't work," Nora said defiantly. Hermione looked behind her, pretending to glance at something, and rolled her eyes with a suppressed smile, then she faced Nora again.  
  
"So Draco's hiding somewhere now?" questioned Terry, bringing their conversation back to the original topic. Nora nodded.  
  
"Should we go look for him?" asked Hermione. "Who knows where he hid himself and how long he's going to stay there before he thinks it's safe to come back out." Nora shrugged and glanced at Parvati and Lavender who still had not stopped snogging Harry and Ron.  
  
"Uh-oh," she said, looking around the Entrance Hall frantically.  
  
"What? What is it?" asked Hermione, following wherever Nora's eyes darted.  
  
"Lily. I've lost Lily. I cannot believe I just lost her!" said Nora desperately. "We've got to go find her, Merlin knows where she may have gone off to, and, truth be told, this isn't the safest castle." Hermione and Terry nodded.  
  
"But where do we look first?" asked Terry.  
  
"Just open every door you find," came Nora's frenzied reply.  
  
"All right. And do we tell those four?" he questioned, pointing to Harry, Parvati, Ron and Lavender. Nora shook her head.  
  
"No, they're too busy. Just us. All right. Search," she said and ran towards the first door and opened it. "Not in the Dining Room," she said as Hermione moved over to a door a well.  
  
"Hey! A bathroom!" she exclaimed, but hurriedly added, after Nora's glare, "Not in here." And she closed the door again. Terry went over to the door closest to him and was about to open it when both Nora and Hermione sprinted over to him and blocked it.  
  
"What?" he asked. "I thought we were supposed to open every door?" The two girls nodded.  
  
"But not this one, honey," replied Hermione. "Fluffy's behind there." Terry's eyes widened.  
  
"Fluffy?" he asked. Nora and Hermione nodded. "Three-headed Fluffy!?" more nodding. "This place is just too creepy," he muttered. Yet more nodding. "All right, let's do this systematically, shall we?" Nora shrugged, but Hermione beamed. "Where do you think Lily could have gone off to?" Nora shrugged again.  
  
"I don't know. She usually just stays with Harry, it's almost impossible to separate them," she replied wearily, scanning the Hall again.  
  
"We'll just have to search the whole castle like you said, then," said Terry in a voice full of dread. Nora nodded slowly and walked over to the next door, opening it to see if Lily was inside there. Hermione and Terry followed her example and slowly, very slowly, they checked behind every door in the castle they could find and dared to open, not liking the things they saw in half of the rooms.  
  
An eternity later the three of them entered an empty Entrance Hall, all of them looking horrible. Hermione's hair had gone completely out of kilter and was sticking out in every direction. Most of Nora's hair had fallen out of the neat bun Parvati and Lavender had fashioned for her when she had woken up and Terry's hair was just very messy. Their faces were smudged and their clothes were covered in dirt and dust.  
  
"I am never going on stairs that don't look safe, ever again," muttered Terry grouchily.  
  
"Well, at least you haven't fallen through those stairs ever before," muttered Nora, just as grumpily.  
  
"I told you those stairs looked familiar," said Hermione.  
  
"Well how was I supposed to know the stairs had repaired itself!? I thought it was still broken after we fell through it the first time!" exclaimed Nora.  
  
"It hadn't done much of a job repairing itself, then," grumbled Terry, brushing his clothes.  
  
"And we still didn't find Lily," said Nora frantically.  
  
"Well, we haven't checked outside yet. Maybe she's somewhere in the grounds," said Hermione soothingly. "Let's go check there, ok?"  
  
"Fine. But if she isn't wounded or in mortal danger I'll blow my top and perhaps even hurt her myself," threatened Nora. "And I seriously mean that," she added. Hermione gave a frightened smile and then led them outside.  
  
"What time is it?" asked Terry. Hermione glanced at her watch.  
  
"7 o'clock," she replied grumpily. They walked down the front steps and slowly crossed the clearing, looking everywhere around them.  
  
"NORA!" came Lily's happy shout. Nora grumbled threateningly, her eyes blazing, and Hermione quickly grabbed a hold on her, just to make sure she wouldn't go hurt her little sister as she had said. Nora glared as Lily and someone who appeared to be Draco came into view. After 15 minutes the two were about a few feet away and they would've come even closer if Hermione hadn't warned them.  
  
"I wouldn't come any nearer if I were you. She's bound to hurt someone," she said indicating to Nora while still holding on to her. Nora shot a glare at her best friend before looking fiercely at her sister again.  
  
"Why? what's wrong?" asked Lily. Hermione groaned; it would have been better if she had not said a word, because this was when Nora exploded.  
  
"What's wrong? What's wrong!? I'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S WRONG! I SPENT THE WHOLE DAY SEARCHING THE ENTIRE FREAKING CASTLE FOR YOU WITH HERMIONE AND TERRY! I WAS BESIDE MYSELF WITH WORRY! I WAS HYSTERICAL! YOU TOTALLY RUINED OUR DAY!" bellowed Nora, still being held on to by Hermione. She took a few deep breaths and then went on shouting. "HERMIONE AND TERRY WANTED TO SPEND AS MUCH TIME AS POSSIBLE TOGETHER WHILE HE WAS HERE BECAUSE THEY HADN'T SEEN EACH OTHER FOR WEEKS, BUT THEY DIDN'T GET TO BECAUSE THEY WERE SO NICE TO HELP ME LOOK FOR YOU AFTER YOU JUST RAN AWAY WITHOUT EVEN NOTIFYING ME, OR ANYONE ELSE, FIRST! I THOUGHT YOU HAD ENTERED SOME ROOM AND GOTTEN KILLED! YOU - YOU - you're hopeless," she finished in dislike, looking daggers at her little sister. Draco stood there, a bit uncomfortably. He had thought Nora would've been happy to see her sister, but from the looks of it she was bound to kill her the minute Hermione and Terry let go.  
  
"Well can you blame me!? I was bored! You just acted like you didn't see me so I thought I'd go walk around the grounds for a bit! It's not my fault! It's yours!" shouted Lily back. Nora's look blazed with fury and the other three, Draco, Hermione and Terry, wished Lily hadn't argued.  
  
"My fault!?" shrieked Nora, beside herself with rage. None of the other four had ever seen her look like this. It was definitely terrifying. "My fault!?" she repeated. Lily nodded defiantly. "Is it my fault that you're a little ungrateful brat who just runs away without telling anyone, who takes everything for granted and who drives everyone insane with whatever she does!? Is it!? Is it!?"  
  
"Like you're so perfect! You don't even want to watch me for one second! You'd rather spend that second with your so-called 'friends'! And don't even get me started on how 'cheerless' you always look! You're just doing it for the attention! You think that people will take pity on you if you just cry the whole time! But I'm not falling for it! I know you're just an attention-seeking hoar who thinks she's popular and loved by everyone! I bet Dean committed suicide instead of being killed by a Death Eater! I bet he killed himself because he didn't want to be with you anymore! He probably hated your guts like everyone else does!" screamed Lily. Nora made a swift movement with her arms and a second later she was free of Hermione and Terry's grip while they were lying on the ground. She took a threatening step forward and Lily took a step back.  
  
"You say all this about me," Nora said softly, but menacingly. Lily gulped. Draco just looked as if he were on the verge of wetting himself. "Yet still you wish to be like me. On the inside, you know as perfectly well as I do, that you have just describe yourself. . . you. . . attention- seeking hoar, is it? Now get out of my sight before I hurt, or maybe even kill you, as I first intended to," she finished. "And don't you ever dare to talk about Dean like that in front of me, ever again, or you won't live to tell the tale." Lily looked completely on the verge of tears.  
  
"I HATE YOU!" she shouted, Nora just smiled sweetly at her, though, if looks could kill, Lily would've been less than dust already. "I WISH YOU HAD BEEN KILLED THAT NIGHT WHEN HOGWARTS WAS ATTACKED INSTEAD OF THE OTHERS! YOU SUCK!" Then she ran past Nora and towards the castle. "I HATE YOU!" she screamed one last time, turning around to yell at her sister.  
  
"WHO SAID I DON'T LOATHE YOU!? ALL YOU ARE TO ME IS A BLOOD-SUCKING INSECT THAT I CAN'T GET RID OF BECAUSE YOU'RE RELATED! ONLY VOLDEMORT IS WORSE THAN YOU!" bellowed Nora, than she gave Lily the finger before Apparating away to a random place and crying like she always did when she didn't know how to handle of the emotions washing over her and when Dean's name was brought up, and what Lily had said made everything ten times worse. She would be there crying for one of the longest times in her life.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"This is hopeless!" exclaimed Hermione after a long silence. She and Terry had gotten up a long time before. "How on earth is she to stop mourning if everything in her life goes wrong!?"  
  
"Should we go look for her?" asked Terry, still a bit terrified after that shocking scene. Hermione firmly shook her head.  
  
"No. She's got to cool off first, but at least she got to shout a bit, though I don't really like that she let it all out on Lily. Usually she just dances in the rain or lies on the ground and watches the sky to relieve herself of all her anger," muttered Hermione, more to herself than to the others.  
  
"Wait, she watches the skies to forget her problems?" asked Draco, becoming more and more confused about Nora. He had never seen this side of her, ever before. Hermione nodded absentmindedly.  
  
"Yes. She says it's soothing for her, I agree, though. But, this is the first time she really waged a war to let her anger go," she replied. "But I can't say she wasn't given a reason. Really, Lily should have told someone she was going to explore the grounds."  
  
"But when can we go and look for Nora?" asked Draco, not caring much about Lily.  
  
"She'll come back to us when she feels better," replied Hermione curtly, before walking off to the castle, sighing loudly.  
  
"Good to see you again, mate," said Terry glumly, before walking off after his girlfriend, leaving Draco standing by himself in the sunset, looking rather befuddled.  
  
"Good to see you again, too," he said, though Terry was too far off to hear. Draco wondered if he really should leave Nora alone to let her cool off, or if he should go look for her to soothe her like he desperately wanted to. He decided to obey to Hermione and leave Nora alone for a while, but after a few hours he would go look for her, whether he was allowed to or not.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Where are Nora and Draco?" asked Harry the second Hermione and Terry entered the Entrance Hall. Lily was in his arms once again. "Lily wouldn't tell me," he added.  
  
"Well, look who finally took some time off of snogging to talk to his friends," snapped Hermione, in danger of losing her temper as well.  
  
"Like you never snog Terry," said Ron, a bit offended.  
  
"Not in public, no," Hermione shot at him.  
  
"Where are Nora and Draco?" Harry asked Terry, deciding to ignore Hermione.  
  
"Nora Apparated off somewhere and Draco. . . er, we kind of left him out in the clearing," Terry replied.  
  
"Why? What happened?" asked Ron. He, Harry, Parvati and Lavender looked at Terry with interest.  
  
"They didn't fight, did they?" asked Parvati.  
  
"Yeah, 'cause that'll mess up our whole plan," Lavender told them. Hermione looked at the two girls in disbelief and then rolled her eyes, but luckily nobody saw.  
  
"No, they didn't fight, but Nora and Lily had an immense row," Terry answered. Lily smirked.  
  
"I bet she's off somewhere crying now, is she?" she said, looking quite smug with herself. Hermione, her temper very close to the surface, blew a fuse, but she remained calm, though in a Professor McGonagall-like way.  
  
"First of all, Lily, that's not a real accomplishment," she began, rounding on the little girl in Harry's arms. "Second of all, it is definitely not something to be proud of and third of all, it disgusts me you acted this way."  
  
"What? What did I do wrong?" asked Lily offended, glaring at Hermione.  
  
"Well, you know, you said that Nora always acted like you weren't there and how she didn't even want to watch you for a second, but that's really because of you," Hermione told her.  
  
"How!?" exclaimed Lily.  
  
"How? Because you always run to Harry. When you first see Nora again, after a really long time, you run to her, give her a hug and then immediately jump into Harry's arms. She just guessed she should leave you alone so you could stay with him the whole time," Hermione said with the air of explaining global warming to a three year old. Lily said nothing for a few seconds.  
  
"Yeah, well, she should quit crying all the time and acting all miserable," she replied glowering.  
  
"Well then, let's see you handle the loss of the guy you loved with more than enough disappointments along the way," said Hermione. "No offence to you, Draco," she added smiling, looking at the him.  
  
"None taken," he replied, smiling in return. Lily said nothing.  
  
"You shouldn't judge your sister if you have no idea what she's going through," lectured Hermione. Lily defiantly looked away.  
  
"She shouldn't have yelled at me and embarrassed me," she said, her voice trembling.  
  
"I know. That was very erroneous of her, but she really was worried about you," said Hermione soothingly, calming down a bit. "You should have seen her, storming through the castle, worried something terrible had happened to you."  
  
A/N: Wrihihiterrrrs Blohohoooock (yet again)  
  
"I didn't mean the things I said," whispered Lily.  
  
"Neither did she," replied Hermione.  
  
"Really?" Hermione nodded. "Because I'm really happy she's still alive and that she's my sister," said Lily, trying to apologize for her behavior. "She taught me many things. You know, every summer we'd stay out at night and watch the stars, and Nora always came running with a first-aid kit whenever I got hurt," she said, smiling at the memory. "And whenever our parents went out and she had to watch me, she'd always order pizza and throw out the food mum had cooked in advance." Lily giggled but soon stopped. "I made her cry," she stated softly. "She's done so many things for me and I made her cry. I really am ungrateful," she whispered.  
  
"You're not ungrateful. That's just the way things go. During fights you only remember the worst stuff about the other person and forget all the good things. But it'll all blow over, I promise," said Hermione.  
  
"But you don't have any brothers or sisters. . . are you sure?" asked Lily hopefully. Hermione nodded.  
  
"I may not have any siblings, but Merlin knows how many times I've argued with him," she said dryly, indicating towards Ron, who grinned. "You just need to let Nora cool off a bit and then, when she's ready, she'll come to us."  
  
"Can't I go to her now? I bet she's already cooled off. Please, can I go see her now?" begged Lily.  
  
"We don't know where she is, sweetie," Hermione told her. Lily's hopeful look faltered.  
  
"None of you?" she asked looking around. The rest all shook their heads, even Draco, though he had a large suspicion where Nora was hidden. "Oh."  
  
"Let's have dinner first," suggested Ron, they all agreed, even Hermione, too tired to argue with him. Ron smiled happily and bounded into the Dining Room.  
  
Dinner passed as a fairly happy event as they all filled their stomachs with the delicious food. Draco, the only one not joining in on the conversation, was forming a plan in his mind. He would try and win Nora back. Tonight. He knew of the plan Parvati and Lavender had formed, but, well, that one totally screwed up so he was making one of his own. He was aware of the fact that Nora had had another horrible day but if he didn't do it tonight he'd probably never be able to muster such courage again. Inwardly he grinned, outwardly. . . he did too.  
  
"What are you so happy about?" asked Hermione, watching him suspiciously. Draco choked in his food out of shock.  
  
"What?" he finally managed to splutter. Hermione looked at him as if he had just burst into singing love songs.  
  
"I said: what are you so happy about?" she repeated.  
  
"What? Oh, nothing," said Draco hastily, mentally slapping himself on the forehead for his obviousness.  
  
"All right, then," said Hermione but she kept glancing suspicious looks at him for the next few minutes. When dinner was finally finished Draco rushed out of the Dining Room, stopping in his tracks upon reaching the main stairway. He turned around and waited for Hermione. When she had finally exited the Dining Room as well, he beckon her over.  
  
"What is up with you?" she asked looking at him, not really knowing what to think of his weird behavior. The others were a few feet off, all lost in their own conversations. Draco didn't really want to confess his plan to anyone, but he needed her confirmation, she was the only one who'd know, and it wasn't that awful to tell Hermione, she was one of the very few people he trusted with this.  
  
"I have this plan," he began and to his relief Hermione looked serious, not as if she were about to burst into laughter. "But I need to know. . . does she still love me?" butterflies collected in his stomach as he waited impatiently for the answer, which would decide if he'd be happy for the rest of his life or dead miserable. Hermione did not need to ask to know who he was talking about.  
  
"She loves you as much as you love her, which is a lot more than I had expected," she replied. It was Draco's turn to look suspicious. "The Amulet," Hermione answered, responding to his unasked question. "It transfers the feelings and thoughts of the person into me whenever they touch it."  
  
"Oh," said Draco, feeling a bit more uncomfortable, but after a few seconds the plan hit him on the head with a sledgehammer and he returned back to his hurried state. "But she does love me, then?" Hermione nodded. "Thanks." And then he ran up the stairs.  
  
"Draco," said Hermione and he turned around. "It's about time you took the initiative," she told him. Draco smiled and then ran up the stairs again. Terry walked over to Hermione.  
  
"What was that all about?" he asked, watching Draco.  
  
"Confidential," replied Hermione, smiling at the spot where Draco had been seconds before.  
  
Draco burst into his bedroom and walked over to one of his nightstands. He grabbed the picture of Nymphirah that he had taken out of his pocket when Parvati and Lavender had began grooming him.  
  
"Wish me luck," he told the picture before putting it carefully back into his pocket. "I'll definitely need it," he added muttering. After giving his room another quick scan for anything he might need to take with him, he ran out of the hall again and down the stairs, three steps at a time. To his relief the Entrance Hall was now empty and he made his way to the kitchens. After getting lost in only a few minutes he remembered the form of Apparation and Apparated into the kitchens, nearly landing on one of the house-elves.  
  
"Terribly sorry," he told it, after it had dropped a tray full of dishes on the floor. "I'm really, really sorry," said Draco again, but to his relief the house-elf just beamed and began cleaning up the mess, as if it had just received a very nice treat.  
  
"Is you liking some food, sir?" asked one of the other house-elves, walking up to him. Draco nodded.  
  
"Yes, and could you put it in a picnic basket or something?" he asked. The house-elves all nodded and then ran off, only to return with all sorts of dishes piled full with food and putting them carefully in a large basket, that looked more like a small bathtub than anything.  
  
"We is all done, sir," said a house-elf and Draco thanked them before grabbing the picnic basket and Apparating himself in the middle of the large clearing and sitting down on the grass. He carefully set the picnic basket down and looked glumly at the sky. All of a sudden his great plan to win Nora back seemed silly and stupid and he had no idea why he ever thought it'd work. Maybe he should just eat the food himself and go straight to bed?  
  
"I need help," he muttered to himself, wondering how on earth things had gone so completely wrong this year. "I don't know what to do." 'Simple,' said a little voice inside his head. 'You go over to her, comfort her, say you love her and she's yours again.' "I have a feeling it's not going to be that easy," murmured Draco. 'Fine, don't do as I say, see if I care,' huffed the voice and it went silent. Draco gazed at the stars, feeling incredibly hopeless. "I NEED HELP!" he shouted at the twinkling lights. No one answered his call. Draco kept looking at the sky but he still didn't get any answer. "Hopeless," he muttered.  
  
"Talking to yourself, are you? The first sign you're going insane," said a familiar voice beside him. Draco looked to his side and blinked. He rubbed his eyes, looked and blinked again. He blinked for the third time. "Look, if all you're going to do is blink I might as well leave right away. I don't have all night, dear brother," the voice said impatiently. Draco reached out to touch her hair, but his hand went through her. He let his arm fall limply to his side.  
  
"You're here," was all he managed to bring out.  
  
"Quite the observer, aren't you?" Nymphirah told him, smiling.  
  
"Why are you here?" he asked. "HOW are you here?" She laughed.  
  
"Well, you're shout for help didn't go unnoticed and I was allowed to guide you, but only this one time." She replied. "Now, I don't have a whole lot of time here, so you need to tell me what's wrong."  
  
"I don't know what to do. She hates my guts," he answered. Nymphirah shook her head and laughed again. Draco frowned; he could not see what exactly was so funny, other than the fact that he was talking to his sister, who had been killed five months earlier, and that she was here laughing at him, but that was actually just weird, not funny.  
  
"She doesn't hate your guts, Draco. She was just humiliated back then, but that's all blown away. Now she just loves you, like you love her," Nymphirah told him.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes. Now you Apparate to her, give her something to eat and comfort her, then it'll all be all right," said Nymphirah, smiling at him. Draco looked at her.  
  
"Why haven't you visited earlier?" he asked. "I miss you."  
  
"We're not allowed. It's a strict rule that we, the dead, cannot be seen by the living, unless it's to help them and then we give them hints and clues of their fate, and that is done mostly in their dreams. Good luck, Draco," she said.  
  
"Wait," said Draco. "Stay with me? Always?" he asked. She smiled.  
  
"I'll be watching you whenever I can. Tell mum I love and miss her and that she really has to quit crying about me all the time," said Nymphirah. Draco smiled.  
  
"I will," he replied.  
  
"Oh, and Draco?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Thanks for telling me about the time you slipped and rolled down four flights of stairs before crashing through the banister and falling down two stories until finally landing on the rug in the hallway at home. I needed a good laugh, especially those few days after my death," she told him.  
  
"You listen to me?" asked Draco.  
  
"I always do. I just love it when you tell me about the stupid things you've done that day," answered Nymphirah, laughing, her blue sapphire eyes blazing with spirited fire.  
  
"Yeah, well, at least I can still do stupid things since I didn't get myself killed," replied Draco, smirking playfully at her.  
  
"Cheater," said Nymphirah. "But I still love you." Draco chuckled.  
  
"I love you, too," he told her.  
  
"You better. Now go to Nora, she'll be needing you," said Nymphirah and she began fading away.  
  
"Watch over me!" said Draco, watching her fading figure floating upwards.  
  
"I'll always watch over you," came Nymphirah's whispered voice. "Always." And Draco was left sitting all alone once again. 'All right,' he thought. 'It's now or never.' He grabbed the picnic basket and Apparated away, missing Nymphirah even more now that he had seen her.  
  
A/N: Another chapter done. It was a bit shorter, but I thought I'd extend it just for you guys. I seriously hope you enjoyed reading it and now that you're all down here you might just as well give me a review and make me really, really happy. =) 


	38. Together Again

A/N: First a large Authors Note right in the beginning to apologize. I'm terribly sorry this one took so long, but I had a major writers block, as you may have read in the previous chapter, and it just would not leave me alone, so this chapter started off pretty slow. Also, the writer's block just stuck with me for an incredibly long time and I was plagued with major headaches as well, and not to forget schoolwork that really needed to be done. So now you all know the reason why this chapter is so crummy, and hopefully you won't hold it against me.  
  
Chapter 38: Together (Again)  
  
Draco landed beside the large flowering shrub that hid the small lake from sight. He took a few steps forward and looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen. Immediately his heart that had been pounding in his throat plummeted a few stories and was now lying uncomfortably on his stomach. He listened hard, trying to hear sounds that might tell him where Nora was, but he heard nothing. Draco took another few steps forward, feeling a bit scared. He searched the area thoroughly, he checked the lake, the waterfall, all of the surrounding trees, he searched everywhere, but still she was nowhere to be found. He took another few steps forward so that he was standing right in front of the lake, and then let go of the oversized picnic basket on the ground, letting himself drop down next to it. He sat there on the sand, his knees up, watching the lake, feeling miserable. When Nymphirah had told him to Apparate over to Nora he had thought he'd land right next to her, but obviously he had to find her first. He felt confused, miserable and, most of all, really, really stupid.  
  
"Someone just finish me off," he muttered, his head in both of his hands.  
  
"Well, there is a lake right here, I could drown you," said a voice he recognized all too well.  
  
"Didn't here you coming," said Draco, not in the mood to lift his head out of his hands. His strategy had already been ruined anyway and he wasn't planning on trying to make it work anyway, he wasn't in the mood anymore.  
  
"I can be very quiet if I want to. Mind if I sit beside you?" asked Nora, but she didn't wait for a reply and seated herself next to him. Despite how he was feeling, Draco lifted his head and looked at her. She was far from how he had imagined her to be after the fight with Lily. Instead of being a complete wreck she looked just as when Parvati and Lavender had finished grooming her this morning. He wondered if she really had been crying, like he and the others had suspected.  
  
"What?" asked Nora when she noticed Draco staring at her.  
  
"You look. . . gorgeous," he said somewhat lamely. Nora looked at him, not knowing how to react.  
  
"Thanks," she said briskly and then looked out over the water again.  
  
"I have food," said Draco, setting the picnic basket in front of them, having decided he'd continue his plan after all, though he did not know how he was supposed to comfort her when she seemed to be doing perfectly well on her own.  
  
"Really? I'm starving," said Nora, the coldness gone, as she opened the basket and began setting out the food and pumpkin juice. When everything was out of the basket she began helping herself immediately. "Oh, I'm sorry. Do you want some food, too?" she asked Draco, who was watching her.  
  
"Maybe a little," he replied. "But I'll wait until you're done."  
  
"Suit yourself," Nora told him, before eating some of the mashed potatoes. "So why'd you come?" she asked, looking at him intently. Draco averted his eyes. What was he to say now? He couldn't possibly tell her about the plan he had formed, could he? 'Why couldn't Nymphirah have stayed with me through this?' he though angrily, seeing Nora look at him attentively out of the corner of his eyes.  
  
"To talk," he replied, deciding not to tell her about his plan.  
  
"With?" asked Nora, thinking he may have come here to talk to his sister.  
  
"You."  
  
"About?"  
  
"Us," answered Draco. He glanced at her and thought he saw a jovial, hopeful glint in her eyes, but when he looked again it was gone and the only thing he saw was awkwardness. Nora cleared her throat.  
  
"Er. . ." she said and cleared her throat again. "Erm. . ." she cleared her throat for the third time but stayed silent after, her voice completely gone.  
  
"I know you don't want to talk about us, but I really think we should," said Draco. "And I understand you hate me, though I don't know why- "  
  
"You humiliated me, Draco," Nora told him sharply, her voice suddenly returning from a very short vacation. "You totally embarrassed me in front of my friends and Dumbledore, after they had begun seeing you weren't a bad guy. Just when I had convinced them you wouldn't harm anyone. . . just when I had convinced them you wouldn't harm me," she said, her voice rising with every 'just'. "You made me look like a complete idiot! You have no idea how it felt to know that Harry and Ron had been right about you all along. . . that what they had kept telling me all through this year was right! And to think I was willing to give my friendship with them up for you," she said disgustedly, swiftly standing up and taking a few steps back, away from Draco, who got up too.  
  
"But you don't know," he began helplessly. "I had this nightmare-"  
  
"I know all about your nightmare, Draco!" snapped Nora. Draco frowned; he hadn't told anyone but Nymphirah about the nightmare he kept having. "Hermione told me about it and it pains me to think that you'd think I'd do something like that! That I'd go and kill myself by taunting Voldemort! DON'T YOU KNOW ME AT ALL!?" she shrieked, her anger taking control.  
  
"Only for one year! And besides, who says nightmares don't come true? How was I supposed to know what to think of it, how to act? And my decision wasn't only based on the nightmare," Draco argued softly. "I just wanted you to be safe. . . you know, I was with you most of the time after Dean had been killed and I saw the look in your eyes every time I so much as glanced at you. . . I was afraid of what would happen if you were murdered. . . I was afraid I'd have to go through that horrible nightmare as well." Nora glared at him, hating him for bringing this up. Why couldn't they just be friends!? Everything was great when they were just friends, and now he had to ruin that as well! 'Ah, but you know you want to be more than friends,' the little irritating voice told her.  
  
"SHUT UP!" she snapped at it, only realizing seconds later that she had said it out loud.  
  
"I already stopped talking," Draco told her, frowning, looking at her in concern. Nora blushed slightly, but then continued her glaring.  
  
"You should've known better than to think I'd taunt Voldemort and you should have told me about your nightmare. I thought we could tell each other everything?" she told him, not caring to explain why she'd yelled 'shut up'.  
  
"We could, but I didn't want to frighten you," replied Draco, hurt in his eyes. Nora sighed irritably.  
  
"Look, Draco," she said coldly. "I'm not made out of porcelain. I can take a hit, all right?"  
  
"But you weren't doing so well-" argued Draco.  
  
"I WAS DOING FINE!" snarled Nora. "Now what do you want from me!?"  
  
"I-I-I" began Draco, afraid to say what he wanted, but he decided that if he never said it, he never would. "I want us to get back together, again," he said softly, almost in a whisper. Nora's eyes turned away from him and instead landed on the pitch-black lake, which reflected the full moon, then she Apparated away, leaving Draco all by himself, crying.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
It was an hour later and Draco was now sitting by the lake, wondering how this could've gone so wrong. Hadn't Nymphirah assured him all he had to do was comfort her? Now all he'd done was destroy their friendship, the only thing that had survived their disastrous breakup. Draco felt stupid. Stupid for believing he'd ever have another chance with her. Of course she didn't want him back. All those things she'd said about him had been right. He was nothing but a Slytherin, he thought glumly.  
  
Draco got up and slowly made his way out of the forest and across the large open space in front of the castle, feeling to unbelievably miserable to Apparate. He walked up the front steps and entered the Entrance Hall, which was, to his relief, completely empty. He slowly trudged up the stairs and walked down the hall.  
  
"Hey, Draco!" someone called out. Draco walked back a few paces and stood in the doorway of the Living Room. In it were Harry, Hermione, Ron, Parvati, Terry and Lavender.  
  
"What?" he asked, trying to sound as normal as possible.  
  
"Are you going to join us?" asked Harry. Draco shook his head.  
  
"I'm really not in the mood," he replied and then walked back down the hall. He heard someone follow him and turned around to see Hermione hurrying over to him, a look of pity in her eyes.  
  
"It didn't work, then?" she asked quietly, so the others in the living room wouldn't hear. She looked truly sorry for him. Draco shook his head.  
  
"No," he replied, to choked up to say anything else, trying hard to fight the tears.  
  
"You can cry in front of me, you know. I won't tell," said Hermione softly. Draco smiled very, very weakly and a tear rolled down his cheek. "There you go," she said and then gave Draco a soothing hug. He was a bit taken by surprise by this gesture, but Draco soon returned it. "She just needs time," whispered Hermione. "You've got to believe me when I say she loves you, but she just needs a bit more time." Draco nodded and let go of her.  
  
"Thanks," he said.  
  
"I'll talk to her in the morning." Draco nodded. "Goodnight."  
  
"Goodnight." And he walked into his room, flopping down onto his bed and dozing off instantly. Hermione slowly turned her head and gazed at the closed door that led to Nora's room, wondering what had gotten into her best friend. She sighed and turned around, joining the others in the living room again.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Harry and Ron stood in the hall staring intently at a door that just would not open. However, one to their other side did.  
  
"She's not coming," said Hermione as she closed her door quietly behind her. Harry and Ron turned around.  
  
"Why not?" asked Harry at the same time Ron said, "Took you long enough to get dressed." Hermione looked him.  
  
"I said I'd be out in about 5 minutes, and here I am-"  
  
"15 minutes later," cut Ron in.  
  
"So it took me a bit longer," Hermione told him. Ron was about to argue when Harry cut in front of him.  
  
"Why's she not coming?" he asked loudly, which was supposed to be an indication for Ron to shut up.  
  
"Ask her when she finally does," Hermione replied simply and then turned around and walked into a different corridor, where the bedrooms of Terry, Parvati and Lavender were. Harry gave Ron a quizzical look, but he just shrugged and followed Hermione.  
  
When Harry, Ron, Hermione, Parvati, Lavender and Terry entered the Dining Room to have some breakfast they immediately noticed a change. Whether it was the unusual large size of the room, the extra number of chairs in it or the fact that their families were all sitting there, engrossed in their conversations, that got their attention, they did not know. The families all looked up when the six students entered. Immediately the parents began beckoning their children to sit with them and, grudgingly, the six trudged to sit with them. Parvati, Lavender and Terry's families were there as well, which meant that, as well as their parents, Parvati's twin sister, Padma, Lavender's younger sister, Lilac, and Terry's older sister, Tara, were sitting their, waiting. Dumbledore had thought that the families of the ones that one of the five was seeing should be notified about the risk as well. Parvati, Lavender and Terry were a possible target for Voldemort; if he found out they were involved with Harry, Ron and Hermione.  
  
Harry and Ron seated themselves among Ron's entire family, who greeted the two boys cheerfully. Hermione seated herself next to her father who was looking at the other families; he was the only Muggle and found the others simply fascinating. Next to her father were Mr. and Mrs. Glassyd and Lily. Sean had already left.  
  
"Good morning, dear. Where's Nora?" asked Mrs. Glassyd while looking at Hermione and leaning forward so she could look past her husband and second daughter.  
  
"Good morning. Nora's still asleep. She was very exhausted yesterday," replied Hermione, not completely lying.  
  
"Oh. Well, you enjoy your breakfast," said Mrs. Glassyd, smiling, before turning back to her husband. Hermione returned the smile and then gave her father a big hug. Narcissa sat alone beside Nora's mother. Terry had seated himself with his family, who were all looking rather worried, and Parvati and Lavender sat down with their families, whom were all sitting together at the far end of the table.  
  
Draco entered about 15 minutes after his friends and he took a seat beside his mother, who immediately cheered up at the sight of her son. Dumbledore arrived only seconds later.  
  
"To many of your disappointments, your families will be leaving shortly after breakfast," he told Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Parvati, Lavender and Terry. "They have all been notified of the risks but have decided that Nora Glassyd, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter and Ron Weasly are allowed to fight in the Second War and try to defeat Voldemort, with the risk of losing their lives." Everyone looked intently at Dumbledore during his speech.  
  
"A bit formal, isn't it?" muttered Ron. Harry nodded.  
  
"It has also been decided that Terry Boot, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil will continue to. . . er, 'see' three of the five, with the risk of becoming a target for Voldemort." Finished Dumbledore. "Oh, and Parvati, Lavender and Terry are allowed to stay for a few more days to spend some time with Harry, Ron and Hermione," he added, a lot less formally. There were a few chuckles to be heard and Parvati and Lavender squealed. Hermione did not, but she looked completely on the verge of breaking through the calmness that surrounded her.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
After breakfast all of the students said goodbye to their families and every mother sniffed and cried and wailed how their baby was all growing up, causing the students to blush.  
  
"Oh! Now I won't be able to say 'goodbye' to my little girl!" wept Mrs. Glassyd, as she pulled out a handkerchief and carefully dabbed her eyes.  
  
"Oh, I'll go get her," said Hermione and she Disapparated, arriving 5 minutes later with a hassled Nora, who looked completely hysterical that she had almost missed seeing her family again before the Second War. Draco glanced at her out of the corner of his eye anxious to see how she looked, but Nora appeared to be doing rather well. His mother who was fussing about his hair shook him out of his thoughts. Ron was going through the same procedure as well and tried to fend of his mother and direct her towards Harry, but Mrs. Weasly would not rest until that little piece of hair got back into its normal position. Harry sniggered, standing a bit to the side.  
  
On the other side Parvati and Lavender were both being squished by their parents and Terry was having a hard time trying to get his mother to stop straightening his clothes, his older sister, Tara, laughed at him. Padma, after having given Parvati a big hug, walked over to Hermione and Nora and gave them hugs as well.  
  
"What's this I hear about you and Draco not being together anymore?" she whispered before letting go of Nora.  
  
"It just didn't work out," she replied, shrugging. "So what about you and Justin?" she then quickly asked, trying to change the subject.  
  
"Still together," replied Padma beaming. "But he has tried to get back together, hasn't he?" she asked, changing the subject back. Nora sighed.  
  
"Yes," she replied curtly.  
  
"And?"  
  
"I Apparated away without saying anything. Oh, I still have to say goodbye to Hermione's father-" said Nora, still curtly, but she was interrupted by Padma.  
  
"All right, I won't talk about it, but you should seriously consider answering 'yes'. Anyway, I hope you guys make it through the Second War. Now go say goodbye to Hermione's father," she said, smiling. Nora returned it.  
  
"Bye, Padma. Take care and say hello to Justin for me, will you?" she asked. Padma nodded and Nora gave her one last hug before walking over to Mr. Granger.  
  
"They'll get back together," Padma told Hermione as the two of them watched Nora make her way to Mr. Granger.  
  
"I'm not sure. At first I thought so, too, but now I doubt it," Hermione said.  
  
"I'm positive. You should have seen them during the trip. They belong together. Anyway, bye, Hermione. Good luck," said Padma, turning back to Hermione.  
  
"Bye, Padma. I hope we'll see each other again."  
  
"Of course we will. Don't be so negative. Bye!" Padma told Hermione, smiling, before walking back to her family. Hermione walked over to her father and Nora and her family.  
  
"I'm really, really, really sorry," apologized Lily, looking at her feet. Nora laughed.  
  
"Don't be silly, it's not your fault I blew my top. . . ok, so it is, but I could have reacted a bit calmer," she said, hugging her little sister.  
  
"And I didn't mean the things I said."  
  
"Neither did I. You're the best sister I could've hope for," Nora said, smiling. Lily returned it.  
  
"So are you," she said.  
  
"Hey guys," said Ginny, walking over. "I just wanted to wish you two good luck in the defeating of You-Know-Who. Good Luck," she told them cheerfully and giving both Nora and Hermione a hug.  
  
"Thanks, we'll definitely need it," answered Hermione and Nora nodded.  
  
"Well, goodbye. I hope I'll see you again someday. Oh, I still have to wish Draco 'good luck'. Bye, for now!" she hastily said and then hurried over to Draco who was now talking with Ron and Harry.  
  
"Did Ginny give you two a whole 'Oh, do be careful and I hope you guys can pull it off, I wish you so much good luck, and really make sure he's dead this time' speech as well?" asked Fred as he and George stopped next to Hermione and Nora.  
  
"No," replied Hermione confused.  
  
"Oh, well, she was acting exactly like mum a few minutes ago with Harry and Ron," George told them, and then he began imitating his little sister. "Oh, you two do be careful! I hope you've trained enough! But maybe you shouldn't go at all; Merlin knows how dangerous it'll be," he said in a high-pitched voice as he fidgeted with his hands and jumped up and down. Nora and Hermione chuckled.  
  
"Very realistic, my dearest brother," said Fred. George stopped hopping up and down.  
  
"Why thank you. I practice every night for 37 minutes and 12 seconds exactly," he said. The rest of the Weasly family walked over to them and Mrs. Weasly began fussing with Hermione and Nora as she had done before with Harry and Ron. To make it even worse, Mrs. Glassyd joined in on it.  
  
"Now, we should slowly be making our way into the direction of the Entrance Hall, where you will depart and arrive at your destination through a secret form of Apparation," said Dumbledore. Immediately all of them headed towards the Entrance Halls, saying their last goodbyes to everyone, disobedient tears escaping from their eyes. Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron, Draco, Parvati, Lavender and Terry all stood off to the side with Dumbledore as their families stood in the center of the Entrance Hall waving, waiting for them to be transported back to where they were supposed to be. A second later they were all gone and the 8 students were left feeling quite downhearted.  
  
"Oh, don't worry, you'll see your fellow students soon enough," said Dumbledore cheerfully. The 8 looked at him.  
  
"What do you mean?" demanded Parvati hopefully. "That they'll visit us again soon?"  
  
"Well, not only them, but many others as well," answered Dumbledore and then he walked off, not planning on revealing anything else.  
  
"Hmpf. . . Now I'm all curious," muttered Parvati, folding her arms.  
  
"Well, we'll just have to wait to find out what he's up to," said Harry, putting an arm around her. Parvati looked at him, her expression a bit hard.  
  
"I'm very impatient," she stated. Harry immediately let go of her.  
  
"So what do we do now?" asked Ron, holding Lavender's hand.  
  
"What's the weather like?" questioned Hermione, before anyone could answer Ron's inquiry. He glared at her.  
  
"I dunno, nice I guess," replied Parvati. "Why?"  
  
"Well, then we could go outside," answered Hermione. "To the lake. We could go swimming. It's really fun," she said. Ron's face cleared up.  
  
"Yeah," he said excitedly. "And then I can show you the tricks I can do when I jump off the jumping rock," he told Lavender, who shot the others an inquiring look.  
  
"That does sound like fun," said Parvati and Terry nodded.  
  
"Are you going, Harry?" asked Hermione. Harry nodded. "And you, Nora?" said Hermione, turning towards her best friends, but Nora shook her head.  
  
"No, I don't really feel like swimming," she said simply and then Disapparated, the others staring puzzled at the spot where she had been seconds before. Hermione glanced at Draco, who looked pleadingly at her. She looked at the others.  
  
"I'll just go tell her that if she does feel like joining us we'll probably be at the lake the rest of the day," lied Hermione and then Dissaparated and Apparated into Nora's room, guessing she'd be there.  
  
"Yes?" asked Nora when Hermione appeared in her room.  
  
"Why do you keep turning him down?" asked Hermione, her hands on her hips. Nora sighed and shrugged.  
  
"I don't know," she replied truthfully. Hermione rolled her eyes and chuckled.  
  
"Then why do turn him down if you don't have a reason?" she said. Nora frowned.  
  
"I don't know," she answered again, feeling a bit stupid.  
  
"Then just say 'yes'!" said Hermione exasperatedly.  
  
"No," answered Nora firmly.  
  
"Come on, Nora!" whined Hermione. "I don't believe that you don't love him anymore."  
  
"All right. So I do still love him, but that's no reason for us to get back together. Draco Malfoy is an insensitive little piece of rotten filthy scum, just like his father. I'm NOT saying 'yes'," Nora told Hermione, who raised her eyebrows.  
  
"We both know you didn't mean all that," she said. Nora remained silent and avoided Hermione's eyes, proving her friend right. "Look, you've got to listen to your heart, not you're your mind, to find the answer. Well, you'll come to your senses sooner or later. We'll be at the lake if you need us," said Hermione. She gave her friend a hug and then Disapparated, leaving Nora alone, just like she felt. Nora sat down on her bed and heard a soft *crunch*. She frowned and stood up again, reaching into the back pocket of her jeans while doing so. She immediately found the source of the noise and pulled a piece of parchment out. She flipped it over, wondering how it had gotten there, and frowned even more. On the parchment were Ron, all the way on the right, then Hermione, Harry and then. . . she and Draco. . . kissing furiously. Nora held the picture closer to her face, wondering if it was real, and then remembered this was the picture she and the others had made for Lily, for her birthday.  
  
"Well, at least Lily was telling the truth," muttered Nora as she let the picture drop to the ground.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"What took you so long?" asked Ron when Hermione finally ReApparated into the Entrance Hall.  
  
"Where are the others?" she asked Harry, ignoring Ron's huffiness.  
  
"Draco already led them to the lake, they got tired of waiting for you," replied Harry. "What's wrong with her?" he asked immediately.  
  
"Yeah," said Ron, for once knowing what the others were talking about without asking first. "She's been a total killjoy lately."  
  
"Well, it's pretty much the same deal as it was with Cho Chang last year," answered Hermione, walking outside with Harry and Ron.  
  
"What deal with Cho Chang?" inquired Ron. Hermione rolled her eyes.  
  
"Remember what I said after Harry had kissed a crying Cho right before Christmas in our 5th year?" she asked.  
  
"Do you!?" asked Ron looking at her in major disbelief. Hermione sighed as the entered the forest.  
  
"I believe my exact words were: She's feeling very sad, because of Cedric dying. Then I expect she's feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry, and she can't work out who she likes best. Then she'll be feeling guilty, thinking it's an insult to Cedric's memory to be kissing Harry at all, and she'll be worrying about what everyone might say about her if she starts going out with Harry. . . that's all I remember," she finished.  
  
"That's all?" asked Ron sarcastically. "Merlin, woman. How do you remember all that?" he said as they neared the large shrub that hid the lake from view. Hermione shrugged.  
  
"So that's pretty much how Nora's feeling at the moment: confused and guilty," she said just as they reached the others, who were all waiting impatiently, except for Draco.  
  
"All right, I'm going to go now. I'd rather fly a bit than swim," he said and then turned and walked away. As he passed Hermione, she whispered: "Just a bit more time." Draco's heart sank.  
  
"But we don't have any swim clothes with us," said Lavender as she looked at Ron, Harry and Hermione.  
  
"I've got a little spell for that, which we always use," answered Hermione, grinning shrewdly. She cast the familiar spell and a second later they were all standing in their swim clothes. Hermione sprinted towards the water and Lavender and Parvati watched her, confused about her sudden hurry. The answer came a second later when Harry and Ron began tickling them and they, too, ran into the water to get away, Terry heading over to Hermione, laughing at the two squealing girls.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Draco walked out of the forest and headed for the Quidditch Pitch. He really didn't feel like being around the others at this moment. His life was currently shattered completely. Before there had been a small bit of hope, floating around in him, but now it had flown away, never coming back to him. He grabbed his Firebolt and kicked off of the ground, soaring into the air. The second reason why he wanted to fly was that he felt closer to Nymphirah this way. Draco wondered again why it had not gone as his sister had said. The way she had told it, he'd already have been with Nora by now, but instead he was far from it. Draco sighed and shot through the air on his Firebolt, feeling like he was being watched, but when he looked around, no was to be seen. He guessed it must be Nymphirah, watching him as she had promised.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Draco carefully put his Firebolt with the others, checking his watch for the time. As it was nearly 6 o'clock he headed out of the Quidditch Pitch and towards the castle for dinner. He felt a lot better after having flown a few hours, but now that he was back on the ground his troubles seemed to be flowing back. He squinted, seeing something orange glistening in the sunlight. Upon coming closer he noticed orange words were floating in the air, and when he was right in front of it, he could read what it said: "I love you" he read out loud. Draco frowned, it was obviously meant for someone else, so he thought he'd leave it hanging there. He was about to walk further when Nora Apparated in front of him, on the other side of the words. She was smiling weakly at him, but he didn't return it; smiling took too much effort, and, after all, his little ray of hope had long since flown away.  
  
"It's for you," said Nora, impatiently brushing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. Draco looked at her uncertainly, then at the words and then back at her.  
  
"Really?" he asked a bit lamely. Nora rolled her eyes and chuckled.  
  
"Yes, really," she replied before letting the three words vanish. She took a step forward and Draco almost took one backward. "My answer is 'yes'," she told him softly, looking at him slightly pleadingly, hoping he'd forgive her after her stupid acts. Draco smiled a little as he looked at her.  
  
"I love you," he said quietly, and then asked: "So you love me too, then?" Nora smiled and nodded. "You really, really do?" she rolled her eyes again.  
  
"Yes, I really, really do." Draco tilted his head slightly and turned serious; he was going to find out if, deep inside, she really did love him, or if she was just making herself believe so.  
  
"Say it," he said. Nora frowned.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Say it out loud. Say you love me out loud," he told her. Nora took a step backward.  
  
"I already did. I even wrote it in the air for you," she replied confused. Draco shook his head.  
  
"You never said it out loud. Just 'I really, really do'," he said. Nora didn't say anything. "I'm not getting back together with you unless you say you love me out loud and really mean it." He waited for a few seconds and when Nora hadn't said anything he walked around her and headed towards the castle, not knowing why he was prepared to lose the one he loved over something that seemed so incredibly silly. But deep inside he knew it was important, so he stuck to it, though his heart sank with every step he took closer to the castle and further away from Nora.  
  
"I love you," he heard her whisper, and it seemed as if she was right beside him, but when he turned around she was meters away, standing right there where he had left her. Draco's happiness made him forget how weird it was that he could hear her whisper when they were so far apart, and he smiled and ran towards her.  
  
"You really, really do?" he asked, not daring to believe it.  
  
"Yes, I really, really do love you," Nora told him, smiling. She reached into her pocket and handed a piece of parchment over to him. Draco took it and looked it over. He chuckled.  
  
"Looks like they're having a nice time, doesn't it?" he asked. Nora grinned as Draco handed Lily's picture of the five of them back to her. "You know, now that we're together, again, maybe we should engage in activities of such sort," he asked. Nora blushed a little as she put the picture carefully in her pocket. Draco lifted her head with his hands and slowly moved forward, giving Nora time to reject him if she wanted. To his relief, she didn't and his lips touched hers softly. A second later they were too busy with their intense make out session to notice the others standing still next to them, all grinning. Hermione even made a picture, deciding to save it for future blackmailing or torture for Nora and Draco.  
  
A/N: I think I'll leave it at that, otherwise it'll take me even longer to update. I know this chapter was definitely not one of my best, but I tried really hard to write it as fast as I could and I hope you guys like it anyway. Sorry it took so long to update.  
  
Dumbeldave - Hey, you finally caught up! Thanks for all the reviews along the way. I'm glad you like my story so much. =) 


	39. The Feast

A/N: Started this right away, since I made you guys wait so long for the previous chapter. It's pretty long but contains a bit more girls stuff, sorry.  
  
Chapter 39: The Feast  
  
So now Nora and Draco were back together again, finally, and the others had to admit that it was much more pleasant to be around them now, than before, though their lovey-dovey acting was a bit nauseating some times.  
  
The eight of them were currently sitting in the Living Room in front of the fire, the stars twinkling brightly outside.  
  
"Take a break and breathe, will you?" asked Hermione from her spot on the sofa with Terry as she looked down on Nora and Draco who had seated themselves on the floor in front of the fireplace. Nora glared at her best friend.  
  
"Just because I have a love life now, doesn't mean you can get all jealous," she said playfully, then, after thinking it over, she added, "That made no sense at all, did it? Right, what I meant was: sorry, we'll try to be more sociable." Hermione chuckled and then smiled, but five minutes later Nora and Draco had started snogging again.  
  
"What time is it?" asked Harry from his seat in one of the chairs, Lavender and Ron in the other one, looking at the others.  
  
"Almost 11 o'clock now," replied Terry. "Why?"  
  
"No, just wondering. This place is pretty boring, actually," Harry said, looking around glumly. Parvati, who was sitting in his lap, gave him a kiss on the forehead. "Oh, very entertaining," said Harry sarcastically. Parvati raised her eyebrows and kissed him passionately on the lips. "Much better," Harry told her, smiling.  
  
"This place is sooo dull," muttered Ron 15 minutes later, stroking Lavender's hair absentmindedly.  
  
"Tell me about it," said Hermione, snuggled up close to Terry. Ron gave her a confused look, but before he could say anything Hermione, Harry and even Nora, taking some time off of snogging Draco, all said: "It's just a saying, Ron." He frowned at them, feeling a bit stupid, but soon focused his attention on Lavender again.  
  
"Does any of you know what Dumbledore was talking about, when he said we'd see many of our fellow students again soon?" asked Parvati.  
  
"Not a clue," said Harry, and the others shook their head, except for Hermione.  
  
"I think he was telling us that they'll visit us again soon," she said.  
  
"But then who are all of the 'fellow students'?" questioned Lavender, frowning slightly.  
  
"Maybe students from our year," suggested Terry shrugging.  
  
"Yeah, maybe," muttered Lavender vaguely.  
  
"All right, we're going to bed," said Nora as she and Draco stood up.  
  
"Thank Merlin," muttered Harry and Ron, still not really used to the fact that one of their best friends was dating a Slytherin, even though he was on their side now. Nora glared at them and then marched off, dragging Draco with her.  
  
"Goodnight!" he called just before Nora, who said nothing, pulled him out of the room.  
  
"Goodnight!" replied the others, chuckling.  
  
"We're going as well," said Hermione, unfurling herself and getting up and stretching. Terry got up too, bade them all goodnight and followed Hermione out of the room.  
  
"Well, then there's not much use for us to stay here, is there?" asked Harry and the others shook their heads, so the four of them went to bed as well, all incredibly relieved Nora wasn't so depressed anymore.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
The next morning Harry, Ron and Terry were waiting in the hall for Draco and Nora, who apparently hadn't woken up yet. Hermione, Parvati and Lavender were still getting ready and would probably be done soon. A door to the right opened and out walked Hermione, which left them waiting for Nora, outside her door.  
  
"Are you waiting for Nora?" she asked after she had given Terry a kiss. Harry nodded, as Ron was too busy tapping his foot impatiently. "Then you two are waiting beside the wrong door."  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Ron. "This is her bedroom, isn't it?" he indicated to the room he thought belonged to Nora. Hermione nodded and smiled.  
  
"Yes, but I don't think she's in there," she said. When Harry and Ron continued to look confused, Hermione looked in the direction of Draco's door, which had just opened. Nora walked out, fully dressed already, carefully closing the door behind her. Harry and Ron's jaws dropped to the floor.  
  
"NORA!" they both shouted, taking her completely by surprise, causing her to jump back in shock.  
  
"What?" she asked looking at them befuddled. Harry and Ron gaped at her in disbelief. Hermione rolled her eyes and walked over to Nora, whispering something in her ear. Comprehension dawned on her and she laughed, which made the two guys goggle at her even more. Nora and Hermione both folded their arms and raised their eyebrows, looking very identical.  
  
"Well, what did I do?" asked Nora, dying to see Harry and Ron making a fool out of themselves.  
  
"Er. . ." said Harry and he nudged Ron, letting him do the talking.  
  
"Erm. . . well, er. . ." he spluttered. "You, er. . . did, erm. . . it. . . with Draco," he finally managed to bring out, after another couple of nudges from Harry.  
  
"What exactly did I do with Draco?" questioned Nora innocently, her eyebrows still raised and arms still folded. Hermione chuckled softly beside her.  
  
"It," replied Ron. "You know! It!" He grumbled. "You had sex with Draco!" he finally shouted. Nora and Hermione both burst into laughter and Ron looked as if he had just ate a beet-um, turning completely red, as he watched the two girls making fun of him and Harry.  
  
"What?" the two of them said indignantly, not knowing how stupid they were acting. Nora and Hermione regained a bit of control of their laughter and Terry watched in amusement at how this conversation was going.  
  
"You seriously think that I had sex with Draco?" asked Nora, a big smile on her face as she tried to not laugh. Harry and Ron nodded.  
  
"Yes!" they both said.  
  
"You came out of his room, didn't you!?" asked Harry.  
  
"Yes, but that doesn't mean I had sex with him, does it?"  
  
"Well, then what did you do?" asked Ron nosily.  
  
"We just cuddled and fell asleep," Nora told him, wiping his prying look off of his face.  
  
"Oh, well, that's all right, then," he said, trying to act like he hadn't acted so stupid.  
  
"All right, who had sex," demanded Lavender as she and Parvati hurried over to the other four while Hermione walked back over to Terry.  
  
"Yeah, we heard the word 'sex' thrice. Who's guilty?" Parvati asked, looking accusingly at the other four.  
  
"Don't look at me," said Harry, raising his hands, "I was with you the whole time, and you'd know if we'd had sex. . . as would I. . . and I don't think we did, did we?" he asked, looking confused. Parvati chuckled.  
  
"You mean you two have done it before?" Nora asked them in disbelief. Parvati shook her head.  
  
"I was just joking," said Harry. "But you see, Ron and I didn't overreact when we thought you had sex with Draco," he told her. Nora shrugged.  
  
"YOU HAD SEX WITH DRACO!?" shouted Parvati and Lavender in unison, goggling at Nora. Draco's door opened and he marched out.  
  
"All right, who had sex with me and was it good?" he asked interestedly, looking around the group. Harry, Ron and Terry immediately took a step back.  
  
"Hey, I stick to girls, mate," said Terry and Ron and Harry nodded.  
  
"Harry and Ron just thought I had sex with you because I came out of your room," explained Nora.  
  
"Oh," said Draco. "But we did have sex," he said. Ron looked as though he was about to faint. "I was kidding!" said Draco quickly, seeing the shocked faces of Harry and Ron.  
  
"All right, enough with the conversation about sex," said Hermione.  
  
"Yeah, no one got laid tonight or ever before," said Nora. "Well, except for Draco with Pansy, but let's forget that because: ew," she added, looking in disgust at the thought of her boyfriend doing it with that cow Pansy Parkinson.  
  
"Right, let's have breakfast," said Ron unenthusiastically, having completely lost his appetite by the thought of Pansy doing it with Draco. He shook his head, trying to get the mental picture out of his mind.  
  
"Yeah, like I'm starving now," said Harry sarcastically as the eight of them headed downstairs.  
  
"I knew I never should have told you I ever did it with Parkinson," Draco muttered to Nora, who grinned impishly at him, when they entered the Entrance Hall.  
  
"Aw, did I upset you? Anyway, it's not like it's that big a deal," Nora told him, giving him a peck on the cheek before entering the Dining Room after her friends. Dumbledore was already sitting in his usual seat when they entered and he smiled proudly at them all.  
  
"Ah, good morning to you all. Did everyone have a good night's sleep?" he asked. They all nodded as they sat down in any seat they chose. "Very well. A good sleep is the foundation of a good day," Dumbledore told them cheerfully, his eyes twinkling behind his half-moon spectacles. The eight students exchanged glances and chuckled very, very softly. "Now, let's eat!" Food appeared on the table as usual and everyone helped himself or herself.  
  
"Urgh, Ron! Quit it with the sound effects," said Hermione disgustedly after a while when her huffing still hadn't caught his attention.  
  
"What?" asked Ron as he swallowed his food. "I'm not making any sound effects." Hermione raised her eyebrows.  
  
"Then what do you call all of the disgusting noises you make while eating?" she asked before taking a decent bite out of her piece of bread, as if showing him how you were supposed to eat decently.  
  
"I don't know," said Ron, shrugging. Hermione was about to speak up again when Nora stuffed a bun in her mouth, tired of them bickering. Hermione spit the bun out and looked at her friend indignantly.  
  
"I'll do it again, too, if you don't quit arguing," threatened Nora. Hermione folded her arms and chose to talk to Terry instead. Nora turned back to her conversation with Draco.  
  
When breakfast was done Dumbledore spoke up again, having "some news that needed to be shared," as he put it. The eight students all looked at him intently, wondering what on earth he could share with them now.  
  
"Yes, well, me and the Hogwarts professors have all decided to hold a feast for the five, which means you, Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco," he added, seeing their slightly dazed looks. "This feast is to be held tonight and will start at 6 p.m. exactly. The ending time has not yet been specified."  
  
"Ooh, will there be a theme? Or do we all have to wear dress robes?" asked Parvati excitedly. Dumbledore smiled.  
  
"There will be no theme, but it is in Muggle wear, so dresses, or skirts, and suits are required," Dumbledore replied. Parvati and Lavender let out soft 'oooohs'.  
  
"But how are we going to get formal dresses?" asked Hermione.  
  
"Well, surely you all have something in your closest?" said Dumbledore. The four girls looked skeptically at him, their eyebrows raised. Parvati and Lavender even muttered "men."  
  
"Excuse me, sir," said Parvati. "But we don't have formal dresses for such feasts just hanging in our closest. It is a known fact that we women buy one dress specifically for one feast." Dumbledore looked at her in amazement.  
  
"Really? Well, another mystery unraveled here, then. But, unfortunately, I cannot let you girls leave this castle, or its surroundings, to buy a dress, for it is too dangerous. Death Eaters will be lurking everywhere," said Dumbledore, looking truly sorry. Hermione, Nora, Parvati and Lavender all pouted, looking completely sullen.  
  
"Erm. . . so who's going to be at this feast for us?" asked Harry, tearing his eyes away from the depressed girls.  
  
"Oh, many, many people. So you all have to look your best," replied Dumbledore.  
  
"Like that'll work if we can't buy a decent dress," exclaimed Parvati and Lavender and they stormed out of the Dining Room with Nora and Hermione.  
  
"You know, sometimes I don't understand women at all," said Terry, watching as the door slammed shut.  
  
"Me neither," muttered Harry, Ron, Draco and, to their amazement, Dumbledore.  
  
"Anyway, I expect you all to be ready by 5:45 and at 6 you will enter the room used for the feast. There I will hold a small speech, then the five will start the opening dance with their partners, and others will join, then at 8 dinner will be served and from then on more dancing," explained Dumbledore. "Now go and have some more free time, and see if you can calm the girls down just a tad bit," he added. Harry, Ron, Draco and Terry nodded and walked out of the Dining Room, in search for their girlfriends, but no matter where they looked and how many times they looked there, the girls were nowhere to be seen.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Huddled together in Hermione's room on her bed, were the four girls. They knew they would be looked for, but at this moment, none of them cared, for they were forming something highly top secret. Something that would need much attention and magic, something that would provide for them their dresses for the feast. Maybe the guys couldn't understand their 'weird acting', but apparently it was very important for the girls to show up in the nicest dresses, especially if the feast was for them and they would be seen by many, many people, as Dumbledore had put it.  
  
"So what exactly is your plan, Hermione?" asked Nora, looking at her friend intently.  
  
"Well, I was thinking about designing a piece of parchment that, if you draw on it, produces whatever you drew, and in the best way possible, so if you make a few flaws, they won't be seen," Hermione told the other three.  
  
"So we draw the dresses we want to wear on that piece of parchment," said Parvati slowly.  
  
"And then it'll appear in real life and correct all the flaws," finished Lavender. "That's brilliant, Hermione!" she exclaimed. Hermione beamed.  
  
"But how will it correct itself?" asked Nora.  
  
"Well, basically it knows how you want the dress because when you draw or write or whatever, you actually put your thoughts in the ink, but because you draw it, the picture never comes out how you want it. This piece of parchment corrects the flaws you made so it looks exactly how you meant it to be, because it reads the ink," answered Hermione.  
  
"Merlin, how do you know all of this?" questioned Parvati in complete aw.  
  
"I dunno, I saw it in some book a while ago when I was in Diagon Alley," replied Hermione shrugging.  
  
"Wow," said the other three girls, their eyes wide.  
  
"Yes, well, first we need a large piece of parchment," said Hermione looking around. "I think I have that," she added while getting up and walking over to her trunk. After a minute of rummaging she returned to the other three on her bed, holding a 12 inch long piece of parchment. "Alright, the next step is a bit more complicated. We need to get some powdered Unicorn horn and 25 milliliter of Dragon blood," Hermione told the others.  
  
"We could try the kitchens, I'm sure the house-elves have got some," suggested Nora. Hermione nodded but she looked a bit unsure.  
  
"We could at least try," said Lavender.  
  
"All right. Nora and I will go down to the kitchens, since Apparating will be a lot more quicker, and you two can begin designing some dresses, there's extra parchment somewhere in my trunk," Hermione said and then Disapparated to the kitchens with Nora. Parvati and Lavender raced to Hermione trunk to get some more parchment; they loved designing clothes, and were quite good at it as well, having learned a few things during all those years.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Out of the way, misses, Boomer is needing to get through," squeaked a highly stressed house-elf, not the least surprised by Nora and Hermione just popping in. The two girls jumped aside to let the frantic house-elf through and looked around. The kitchen was full of hurrying house-elves, running around, carrying all sorts of plates and goblets.  
  
"Erm. . . I'm sorry, but what's going on?" asked Hermione, stopping a house-elf who was busy running around and checking everything. The house- elf stopped and panted a bit.  
  
"We is getting everything ready for the feast tonight," she squeaked. "We is running very behind. We is not even decorating the Ballroom yet!" And then she ran away again over to a house-elf carrying a tray full of food.  
  
"Never knew house-elves got so hysterical as well. I thought I was the only one," said Nora. Hermione chuckled.  
  
"Come on, we really need to get those ingredients. I don't know how long it takes to make that piece of parchment," she said and walked around the kitchen, searching for a house-elf who wasn't as busy as the others, but apparently they all had something to do.  
  
"Maybe we should call out that we need help or something," suggested Nora.  
  
"All right, but you get to shout," replied Hermione, grinning. Nora rolled her eyes.  
  
"Is there anyone who can perhaps help us!?" she called. Only a few house-elves looked up, but they did not walk over to them, instead they continued their work. Finally, after 15 minutes, during which the two girls looked around helplessly, a house-elf came up to them.  
  
"You is needing help?" he asked, his round yellow eyes gleaming with eagerness.  
  
"Erm. . . yes," said Hermione, taken completely by surprise that, all of a sudden, they were getting help. "We need two ingredients: powdered Unicorn horn and 25 milliliters of Dragon blood."  
  
"Do you have that here?" asked Nora hopefully. The house-elf nodded vigorously.  
  
"We is having almost everything here, kind misses!" he told them. Both Hermione and Nora let out a sigh of relief. "I is getting them for you right away!" and then he ran off, darting through the crowd of other hurrying house-elves.  
  
"Do we need anything else, because we might as well ask for that, too, since we're here already," said Nora. Hermione shook her head.  
  
"The rest is just magic spells," she replied.  
  
"And you still remember what they are?" asked Nora in disbelief. Hermione nodded.  
  
"Yup," she answered, beaming. Nora chuckled just as their helpful house-elf ran up to them again, holding the ingredients in his hand.  
  
"I is having them right here!" he told them, handing the ingredients over to Hermione.  
  
"Thanks," she said.  
  
"You is both very welcome, but I is needing to be getting back to my work now. Bye kind misses!" he said and hurried off. Nora and Hermione both Disapparated and when they were back in Hermione's room they saw Parvati and Lavender both drawing keenly.  
  
"What have you got?" asked Nora as she sat down on the bed again.  
  
"Oh, loads," replied Parvati happily and she stalled out the drawings she'd made so far, joined by Lavender.  
  
"Wow, these are great," said Hermione carefully laying the ingredients on her bed and sitting down next to them. "Oh, I like that one," she said, pointing to a strapless amethyst colored dress that was comfortably tight on the upper body and then got wide below the hips, kind of making it look like a medieval dress, but in a nice purple color.  
  
"Yeah, we thought you'd like that one," said Lavender, writing 'Hermione' in small letters above the dress.  
  
"We drew this one for you, Nora," said Parvati, pointing to a white dress below Hermione's. It had thin straps and was comfortably tight on the upper body as well, but it grew tighter near the knees, too, and then it began to widen as it made it's way down to the ground, which it completely touched, if you were wearing high heels, Parvati told them.  
  
"I totally love it," whispered Nora, gaping at the dress she wanted.  
  
"What are you two going to wear?" asked Hermione.  
  
"I'm wearing a white t-shirt with thin diagonal stripes on it and a black skirt that reaches the floor," replied Parvati, showing them the picture.  
  
"And you?" Nora asked Lavender, tearing her eyes away from the dress she'd wear, if everything went right that is.  
  
"Black dress with straps that looks a bit like yours," replied Lavender, pointing to the picture.  
  
"Nice," said Nora, but was cut off by Hermione.  
  
"We really need to begin creating the magical piece of parchment, otherwise we might not get our dresses finished on time; it takes a while before the dresses from the parchment are transferred to us and you have to redraw them on the parchment as well," she said.  
  
"But that doesn't take too long," said Parvati.  
  
"No, but we should get started," Lavender agreed.  
  
"All right, first we sprinkle the powdered Unicorn horn on the parchment while it soaks in Dragon blood. Do we have anything we can pour the Dragon blood in?" asked Hermione, looking around.  
  
"The sink?" suggested Nora.  
  
"That'll work, I think." And the four of them carried everything into Hermione's bathroom. They poured the sink full of the 25 milliliters of Dragon blood and then laid the 12-inch piece of parchment in it. After letting it soak for a minute the powdered Unicorn horn was sprinkled on it. The parchment glowed a faint yellow.  
  
"Now I'll do all of the spells, because they're quite advanced, no offense, and it'll take to long to teach them to you," said Hermione, trying hard not to sound rude.  
  
"Don't worry about it, we did our part by drawing the dresses," said Parvati, pointing to herself and Lavender, who grinned.  
  
"Yeah, and I. . . helped get the ingredients," said Nora, feeling completely useless, as she hadn't done a single thing, except get the ingredients, but that really wasn't much of an achievement.  
  
"Aw, but I'd never have been able to get the ingredients if you hadn't been there with me," said Hermione. "You're the one who was brave enough to shout out for a bit of help." Nora chuckled and grinned.  
  
"All right, do your stuff so we can wear decent dresses to the feast," she said and Hermione smiled before turning back to the sink. She made a complicated movement with her wand and muttered something under her breath. A yellowish light shot from her wand and hit the parchment, which glowed a faint yellow again. Hermione turned around to her friends again and smiled.  
  
"Done for now," she said quietly. The other three stared at her in disbelief.  
  
"Done?" repeated Nora. Hermione nodded and touched the Amulet, looking a lot more refreshed and lively when she let go, telling Nora that that complicated little spell had drained most of Hermione's energy after she cast it.  
  
"But you said it'd take a long time before it was finished," said Parvati from her seat in the empty bathtub.  
  
"Yeah," agreed Lavender, sitting on the white rug next to the bath.  
  
"It does: now the parchment has to soak in the Dragon blood with Unicorn powder and the spell I just cast, but the temperature has to be the same until the process is complete," answered Hermione. "I don't know when it's finished, but we'll know when it is," she added before anyone could ask.  
  
"So how are we going to keep the temperature at the same height the whole time?" asked Nora. Hermione opened the cabinet under her sink, pulled out a thermometer and stuck it in the dragon blood.  
  
"I always take one with me when I travel somewhere," said Hermione proudly. Parvati ran up to the sink to inspect it.  
  
"What on earth is that?" she asked in wonder.  
  
"It's a thermometer, it measures the temperature," answered Hermione then she turned to the others as well and added, "and when it gets too warm or cold we'll just cast a simple heating or cooling charm." The four of them sat on the floor, waiting for the parchment to get ready.  
  
"So where did you guys learn how to draw so brilliantly?" asked Hermione.  
  
"Well, we always loved drawing, but we weren't very good. We picked up a few things from pictures we saw," said Lavender.  
  
"Yeah, Dean taught us the most, he could draw almost everything and perfectly, too," agreed Parvati. "It's really awful he died," she added whispering.  
  
"Ain't that just the way that life goes down, down, down, down," sang Hermione, Nora and Lavender quietly at the same time, the three of them burst into giggles at this coincidence, leaving Parvati looking quite befuddled.  
  
"What's that song?" she asked. "And why'd you sing it?" Hermione was the first to recover from laughing.  
  
"It's this Muggle song by Lutricia McNeal," she said. "And I always sing that one line when someone says something downhearted."  
  
"Me too," said Lavender and Nora in unison, then, because they had said another thing at the same time, the two of them burst into giggles again, even though it was hardly funny.  
  
"It's really awful all of those students died," said Hermione, coming back to what Parvati had said, and Parvati nodded. Nora and Lavender said up straight and tried hard to avoid looking at each other, knowing that if they did they'd have to laugh again.  
  
"Different topic," said Lavender cheerfully. "So, who do you guys think is coming for the feast for you five?" The others shrugged.  
  
"I dunno," said Nora. "Ministry of Magic, maybe?"  
  
"And maybe students from our year, because Dumbledore said we'd see them soon enough again," Hermione told them.  
  
"Yeah, probably," said Parvati thoughtfully. "Say, where do you think the feast is held?" she asked excitedly. "Maybe it's in some glamorous party room in some fancy hotel."  
  
"I think it's here in the ballroom," replied Nora. "The house-elves said they hadn't started decorating the ballroom yet, so I'm guessing it's somewhere in this castle." Parvati's face fell.  
  
"Really?" she asked, grimacing. "I don't really trust this place. It's kind of creepy." Nora shrugged.  
  
"We've gotten used to it," said Hermione. "And it's not really as bad as it looks. Uh-oh, the Dragon blood's cooling, hold on," she said and then quickly got up to cast a mild heating charm on the contents in the sink.  
  
"How'd you know that?" asked Lavender, looking behind her to see Hermione.  
  
"I cast another spell that told me when the temperature changed," came the reply.  
  
"Ah," said Lavender, sitting straight again. "So what do we do while we wait for the parchment to get ready?" she then asked. The others shrugged while Hermione sat back down on the floor with them.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"After 9 accidental make-out sessions!?" asked Lavender incredulously, trying hard not to laugh. Parvati didn't have as much success and she rolled around on the floor howling. Hermione chuckled and Nora sat very stiffly, her cheeks turning red.  
  
"What about you Hermione?" asked Parvati, finally controlling her laughter. . . a little. "How did you and Terry get together?"  
  
"Well, we met through the D.A. and kind of became friends then and on the first day back to Hogwarts this year he asked me out. Not that special really," she said.  
  
"How sweet," said Lavender, her eyes shining. Hermione shrugged, blushing a little.  
  
"Yes, well it's not as crazy as how Nora and Draco got together, is it?" she asked, grinning evilly at Nora, who immediately turned bright red again. Parvati instantly began howling with laughter again.  
  
"Yeah, well at least I don't have trouble finding a boyfriend," shot Nora back, giving Hermione a matching evil grin.  
  
"At least my boyfriend didn't break up with me for another girl," retorted Hermione, an evil glint in her eye now as well. Nora's eyes narrowed.  
  
"That was way below the belt," she said half smiling. "Beside, that was all Crystal-Rose's fault, she cast some kind of spell on him or herself, I'm sure of it," she added.  
  
"What? But Crystal-Rose is nice," said Parvati, who was in Crystal's group.  
  
"Yeah, to you maybe, but I hate her guts," replied Nora simply.  
  
"Ooooh," said Hermione as the room filled with a faint yellowish glow. She quickly got up and walked over to the parchment. She cast another complicated spell, Nora thought it was the same one Hermione had used before, and then pulled the completely dry parchment out.  
  
"It's about time that thing finished," said Lavender, checking her watch. "What!? It's nearly three o'clock!" she exclaimed. "That means only three hours till the feast!" she frantically cried and the other girls stared at her in disbelief, all checking their own watches.  
  
"Oh my god!" screamed Parvati. "This is a disaster!"  
  
"Do you think that piece of parchment can get all of our dresses to us at the same time?" Nora asked Hermione, keeping her head cooler than the other two girls who were frantic.  
  
"I dunno. We can try," replied Hermione. "All right, Parvati, Lavender, you two have to draw the four dresses now and try to hurry it up a bit, because otherwise we might not make it," she told them. Parvati and Lavender immediately calmed down and grabbed the pictures of the dresses off of the floor.  
  
"You can sit at the desk in Hermione's room, if it's more comfortable," said Nora. The two girls nodded and walked back into Hermione's room, seating themselves at the desk, followed by Hermione and Nora. After 15 minutes Parvati and Lavender were already done drawing the dresses, in color, and they gave the piece of parchment to Hermione.  
  
"Now what?" asked Nora. Hermione closed her eyes, frowning, trying to think of what came next. Nora, Parvati and Lavender watched her closely; the happiness of their evening depended on Hermione.  
  
"I think I say another spell," said Hermione, opening her eyes again. She frowned again, thinking hard, and then, in a swift movement, waved her wand in a fashion none of the other girls could copy right away, tapped the parchment four times, once on each dress, and whispered something in Latin none of the other girls could repeat even if their lives depended on it. The parchment glowed a faint yellow once again and instantly four different colored lines appeared in the air and slowly, very slowly began making their way downward, in the form of the dress.  
  
"IT WORKED!" squealed Parvati and Lavender and Nora grinned happily at Hermione, who looked quite relieved herself.  
  
"Perfect," said Nora, giving her best friend a hug.  
  
"Thank Merlin it worked," Hermione said while watching the progress of the lines. "But do you think they'll be done in time for the feast?" she asked.  
  
"I think so, but it's best that we do our hair and make-up now, while the dresses are being made," answered Nora.  
  
"Good idea," said Hermione. "Hey, you two!" she said loudly to Parvati and Lavender, who stopped dancing around the room.  
  
"What?" they asked in unison.  
  
"We're going back into the bathroom to do our hair and make-up," said Nora, before entering the bathroom again with Hermione, the other two following.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Isn't it ready yet!?" asked Hermione frantically, checking her watch. "It's already 5:41!" she yelled.  
  
"Careful, you don't want to ruin your hair," said Nora. "Especially after I spent so long braiding it with that gold," she added proudly. Hermione's hair had been made smooth with some very strong gel and Nora had braided it with small glints of gold. A few lose strands framed her face, like always done when attending parties or feasts or any formal occasion. Nora's hair was placed in a high elegant bun, a few strands sticking out of it, making it look a bit more creative. The lose strands framing her face had been curled. Parvati had her hair in a high plait, with thin silver strands in it. Lavenders hair hung loose behind her shoulders.  
  
"Besides, they're almost done, Hermione," said Lavender calmly, though looking completely otherwise. But it was true, the lines that had been at the top in the beginning were now almost at the bottom and the dresses were completely visible, except for the last few cm. All four of the girls were longing to put their dresses on.  
  
"Finally!" screamed Parvati frantically, 7 minutes later, jumping up from the bed. "They're done!" the other girls jumped up too, their eyes shining brightly.  
  
"Really?" asked Lavender, not daring to believe it.  
  
"Yes!" screamed Parvati as she ran over to her white t-shirt and long black skirt floating in the air.  
  
"Oh, I have to get my white strapless shoes," said Nora and she exited the room, coming back a minute later, holding the high-heeled shoes that actually belonged to her previous Halloween costume. The four girls got dressed, careful not to ruin their hair or make-up. At 5:55 they were all set. Hermione had changed the color of a pair of strapless shoes from black to amethyst and had lent another black pair of high-heeled shoes to Lavender. Nora had lent one of her pair of black high-heeled shoes to Parvati, as the two girls didn't have fancy clothing with them; they were only staying for a few days.  
  
"All set?" asked Hermione, butterflies nervously fluttering around in her stomach. The other three nodded and together they walked out into the hall.  
  
"Erm. . . which way?" questioned Nora, looking around.  
  
"Sir Cadogan?" suggest Hermione. Nora shrugged and the two headed towards the Grand Staircase, followed by Parvati and Lavender, ready to call for Sir Cadogan, but to their surprise Dumbledore stood there waiting for them.  
  
"Ah, I see you four are finally finished. Well then, let us go to the Ballroom, everyone is waiting for you," he said. Dumbledore was wearing a very fancy black suit, and the four girls all thought he looked rather ridiculous in it. Robes suited him much better. "Might I add that you all look fabulous," he said.  
  
"Thanks," the girls replied.  
  
"So do you, sir," said Parvati and Lavender cheerfully as they walked up the stairs. Nora chuckled, but quickly stopped, trying hard to concentrate on walking normally while wearing high heels.  
  
"Having trouble?" asked Parvati mockingly from behind her.  
  
"Yes," growled Nora frustrated as she wobbled around and grabbed Hermione carefully for support. After a few minutes of walking though, she seemed to be doing much better and let go of her friend.  
  
"Seriously, it's like watching Bambi learn how to walk," called Lavender from beside Parvati. Both Hermione and Nora chuckled but Parvati asked confused: "Who's Bambi?"  
  
"Never mind," replied Lavender.  
  
"Is it much further?" inquire Hermione, growing a bit tired of walking so much.  
  
"Not much, no," came Dumbledore's cheerful reply.  
  
"Where are the others?" asked Nora.  
  
"Well, they finished dressing quite some time before you so I already led them to the ballroom. And may I ask how you managed to get such lovely dresses?" asked Dumbledore.  
  
"We made a 'Sittybus Magus'," replied Hermione.  
  
"The Magical Parchment. I'm impressed," said Dumbledore in aw as he stopped in front of a brilliant set of doors. "Now here is my plan. You four will go into a side chamber, and when I call you out, you will walk out of it as Harry, Ron, Draco and Terry walk out of the other side chamber. You will walk toward each other and when having reached your 'other half' you will turn to the guests and. . . smile or something. Then I will announce the five and they will take a step forward and after that I explain your part in Voldemort's defeat. Everything clear?" asked Dumbledore. The four girls nodded and he smiled before walking toward a small but magnificent door, leading them inside. "That door on the other side of the room will lead to the Ballroom," explained Dumbledore and then he left. The room they were in was rather small with a wooden floor and deep red walls, from which torches hung.  
  
"Do you think we'll be able to hear him when he calls us out?" whispered Lavender, looking around the room.  
  
"Probably," said Hermione and sure enough a second later Dumbledore's voice was heard as clearly as if he were standing right next to them.  
  
"I am about to announce eight people, five of whom are of incredible importance. Some of you may already have noticed their absence and can guess who they are and, as I know you all are just dying for me to leave and let the feast begin, I will call them out right away," said Dumbledore. There was a hearty laughter; Dumbledore knew his students too well. "Here they are," he said and Hermione, closest to the door walked out of the small room and into an incredibly large one, followed by Nora, Lavender and Parvati amid applause. They were walking on the raised platform, on which the band would be playing songs, and made their way to the middle where Dumbledore stood. When they reached him the guys, who had joined them, quickly walked over to their girlfriends.  
  
The Ballroom was even more beautiful than they could have guessed. The large windows showed a pitch black sky with brightly twinkling stars, making it feel as if it were a whole lot later than it actually was, and the walls were a deep ruby red. From the high ceiling hung diamond chandeliers and on the round tables that seated 4-8 were white candles that never died out, unless extinguished by a person. There were many, many round tables, covered in ruby tablecloth, along the walls and scattered all over the Ballroom except for in the middle, where the dance floor was, which was now filled with all of the Hogwarts students.  
  
"This feast is thrown for five students. These five have the most important duty and are more important than anyone in the world so far," began Dumbledore, he indicated to the five that they were to step forward, so Harry, Ron, Hermione, Nora and Draco all took one step ahead. "They are all part in the defeat of Voldemort." Half of the students shivered at the name, many of them gasped that those five were responsible for the defeat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and one boy even toppled over. The eight students on the platform beside Dumbledore could guess it was Neville; always clumsy, he was. "The Second War will be starting soon and these five students, all in sixth year, will be in it. This feast is thrown as a last celebration to them, for it may be the fact that they will be dead when we throw the victory feast, or mourning feast, if Voldemort is or is not stopped." Many gasps and muttering filled the room, but Dumbledore was not annoyed by it. In fact he seemed pleased the students were taking this so seriously. "Tonight I expect you all to forget your problems and just have a good time, for the sake of the five." A slow song began playing and the eight students on the platform walked off of it to the middle of the dance floor and began the opening dance. There was a lot of muttering as Nora and Draco passed the crowd holding hands, and the dreaded uncomfortable feeling of guilt and disgrace began to settle itself in Nora's stomach.  
  
The opening dance was to a slow song and Nora began to feel more and more uncomfortable with every dance step she took with Draco. The four couples were soon joined by many more and it wasn't until Dumbledore waltzed by them with a flustered looking McGonagall that they noticed all of the Hogwarts teachers were there as well. . .well except for Professor Spring, who was murdered by Death Eaters that forlorn night in January. And Hagrid was absent as well, but maybe Dumbledore had sent him on a mission for the Order again.  
  
"Well, they're having fun, aren't they?" asked Draco as he saw Professor Snape dancing sullenly with Trelawny, who seemed to be predicting all sorts of things. Nora snorted and then pointed to Professor Sprout, trying to dance with Professor Flitwick. Draco laughed.  
  
"Oh, Crystal-Rose," muttered Nora sourly, glaring at the blond girl dancing with some Slytherin 7th year. "She copies me in everything, doesn't she?"  
  
"What?" asked Draco, following her gaze.  
  
"Well, I was going out with Dean, and then she went out with him, after stealing him away, mind you. And now I'm dancing with you, a Slytherin, and she's dancing with a Slytherin as well," replied Nora, still sour.  
  
"It could just be all a coincidence," said Draco, trying to get some sense in her. Nora looked at him. "All right, no coincidence. But there's one thing that's very different about you two," said Draco. Nora looked skeptically at him as Dumbledore and McGonagall waltzed by again, knocking a couple of first years to the floor in the process.  
  
"What's that?" she asked while the first years struggled to get up.  
  
"You look a million times more beautiful than she does," replied Draco softly, not liking how sappy he was becoming. Nora smiled.  
  
"This is totally not your style, but it still makes me feel better," she told him before giving him a quick peck on the lips and leaning her head on his shoulder. Draco wrapped his arms fully around her, not wanting this moment to ever end.  
  
"Urgh, this is so weird," muttered Ron as he watched Nora and Draco.  
  
"What's weird, sweetie?" asked Lavender, following his gaze. "Oh, that. Well, it just needs some getting used to, I guess," she told him.  
  
"It's still weird," said Ron stubbornly. Lavender rolled her eyes and put her head on his shoulder again; there was just no arguing with Ron about some things.  
  
A faster song followed the first slow one and Nora, not feeling like being watched even more, walked off of the dance floor, followed by Draco, glaring at everyone who gaped at her, which was half of the population of Hogwarts. Nora sighed while plopping down in a seat at one of the tables somewhere in between many others, which were currently unoccupied. Draco sat down next to her and looked at her intently, tilting his head sideways a little.  
  
"I hope you're not planning on sitting here like this for the rest of the feast," he said after a while. Nora shrugged, fidgeting with her dress, avoiding Draco's eyes. "Well, I'll get some Butterbeer." And then he got up and walked towards the bar at the other side of the Ballroom. Hermione almost immediately took Draco's place.  
  
"They're not judging you," she said instantly when she sat down. "Most of them don't even know you had been dating Dean."  
  
"Maybe not, but they still think I've gone mad to be going to this feast with Draco Malfoy, the cruelest and snootiest Slytherin," replied Nora glumly.  
  
"We both know very well he's not cruel," said Hermione and, after thinking it over she added, "and he's not as snooty as he used to be." When Nora continued to look all glum and sullen Hermione became serious. "Look, I know about the dreams you kept having, the ones with Dean telling you that you were meant to be with Draco, and I think that that really is Dean telling the truth," she said. Nora looked at her, frowning.  
  
"How did you -" she began, but Hermione was already tapping the Amulet impatiently. "Oh, right."  
  
"I read a long time ago that the dead will sometimes visit people to give them hints and clues to their fate and that this is done mostly through dreams, so I think that really was Dean telling you what your fate with Draco was. Besides, people aren't judging you because you're going to this feast with Draco; he's one of the five to defeat Voldemort, right? He can't be evil if he has to kill the most evil wizard in our time." Nora thought this over and slowly the sadness crept away from her face, replaced by happiness.  
  
"You're right," she said resolutely, sitting up straight. "It's silly to get all down cast over something like this."  
  
"There you go, you should be enjoying this feast, it may be the last one you ever attend," said Hermione. Nora looked at her.  
  
"Right, 'Mione. Like that's to cheer me up even the littlest bit," she said. Hermione chuckled.  
  
"Yeah, sorry. But enjoy this feast, ok?" said Hermione, smiling. Nora nodded and gave her friend a hug.  
  
"Butterbeer," said Draco, arriving holding two bottles. "Sorry it took so long but there was a really long line, apparently the Slytherins wanted to get drunk already," he told Nora and Hermione a bit embarrassed by his House.  
  
"No time," said Nora and she grabbed the two bottles, set them down on the table and dragged a very confused looking Draco back to the dance floor, though this time, making Nora think maybe she had imagined it, there was a whole less staring at the two of them, but that might have been because everyone was too busy watching Dumbledore waltz around with a very unhappy looking Professor Snape.  
  
Slowly the time went by and the longer the students were all in that beautiful Ballroom, the happier they seemed to get, forgetting about all of their troubles, like Dumbledore had wanted them to, and just having a good time.  
  
"I think we should take a break as well," panted Nora as she saw couples walking past them off of the dance floor. Draco agreed and he led her to an unoccupied table in the midst of many other tables. When they were both seated they looked around.  
  
"I love the windows," said Nora. "All of those stars, twinkling at us even though outside they're not to be seen yet." Draco looked at her and smiled. "What about you?" she asked.  
  
"I love you," he replied simply. Nora chuckled, looking into his beautiful blue gray eyes.  
  
"I love you too, but if you become even mushier I'll whack you over the head with a chair," she told him and Draco laughed, his hair falling casually over his eyes now that it wasn't as full of gel as it had been in the first few years at Hogwarts. Nora liked it when Draco laughed. It made her feel blissful inside. Hermione soon joined them, her face flushed, with an exhausted Terry by her side.  
  
"Mind if we sit?" she asked not really waiting for an answer and sitting down next to Nora, Terry seating himself across from Hermione and next to Draco, who is then obviously sitting across from Nora.  
  
"Erm. . . no, go ahead," Nora told Hermione who was already sitting comfortably beside her. Hermione chuckled.  
  
"So what kind of music does this band play?" asked Terry. "I keep hearing songs I've never heard before and songs that I do recognize."  
  
"Muggle and Wizard songs," replied Nora. "This way everyone hears songs they know."  
  
"What's the song playing right now?" asked Draco, listening. "I don't recognize it," he said after a while, pouting. Nora, Hermione and Terry listened as well.  
  
"I want you to want me. I need you to need me," sang the witch on the raised stage.  
  
"Don't know it," said Terry.  
  
"Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you crying? Oh, didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you crying?"  
  
"Oh, I recognize this song. It's really good, but I'm too exhausted to dance," said Hermione pouting.  
  
"Then we'll just listen," Terry told her simply, completely exhausted himself and hoping he didn't have to get up again until some time.  
  
"Padma!" shouted Nora, startling Hermione. Padma, who had been dancing with Justin on the side of the dancing floor looked around and finally spotted Nora, who had got up and waved at her.  
  
"Hi! You certainly look like your doing a lot better," Padma told her, walking over with Justin. Nora beamed and gave Padma a big hug.  
  
"I feel a lot better," she replied. "Hi, Justin," she said before giving him a hug too. By now Draco had gotten up and was being hugged by Padma. When she finally let go he and Justin shook hands rather formally before grinning and giving each other a hug too.  
  
"Long time no see," said Justin and Draco nodded while Padma was whispering with Nora.  
  
"Yeah, it's certainly been a while, hasn't it?" agreed Draco.  
  
"So. . . I heard you two er. . . broke up the day you left us to stay here," said Justin, trying to sound casual. Draco nodded, but he couldn't help grinning.  
  
"Yeah, -" he began but was soon cut off by a squealing Padma who gave him a big hug.  
  
"Congratulations!" she exclaimed letting go of him. "I just knew you two would get back together sooner or later, though I had hoped sooner," she added a bit threateningly in both Nora and Draco's direction. "But congratulations!" she squealed again. Justin just stood beside them looking confused.  
  
"They're back together again, sweetie," Padma told him a bit impatiently.  
  
"Really? Well, that's great," said Justin, slapping Draco on the shoulder and giving Nora another hug.  
  
Hermione had left with Terry to go and find Hannah and Timothy, the other members of their group. It took a while, but they found Hannah dancing with Ernie McMillan and Timothy standing by the bar.  
  
"It was all right, a bit boring maybe, without you," Hannah told Hermione as the two walked over to Terry and Timothy by the bar. "So, are you scared?" she asked, intently watching Hermione, who shrugged.  
  
"Not really, but I know that'll change when the Second War does finally come," came her reply. "So what did you do while I was away?" she asked. Hannah immediately began listing off every single place they had traveled to and what they had done there, while Terry and Timothy just talked about what the feast was like so far.  
  
Apparently Harry and Ron had decided to look their other group members up as well because they were now talking to Crabbe, Goyle, Crystal- Rose and Mandy about how they were supposed to defeat Voldemort, Parvati and Lavender getting some drinks. Nora hurried passed the group but was called back by the one person she definitely did not want to see or speak to: Crystal-Rose Conally.  
  
"Yes?" asked Nora politely, walking back up to the group. Harry and Ron gave her encouraging smiles as they took a few steps away with Crabbe and Goyle, feeling they'd rather not be so close to the two enemies. Mandy on the other hand remained, probably to referee the fight.  
  
"I was just wondering: are you going out with Draco Malfoy? There are all these rumors going around and I just wanted to know if they were true," said Crystal-Rose, in the same very polite manner, though she had a sneer on her face that told Nora exactly what she had feared: Crystal-Rose thought that she had gone out with Dean for fun, or something like that, and that she had begun dating Draco right after Dean had been murdered. 'Oh, the bitch,' though Nora heatedly. 'She's going to spread all sorts of horrible rumors about me, I just know it.'  
  
"Well, is it true? Are you and Malfoy together?" asked Crystal. Nora felt her temper bubbling up inside her, but she remained calm, at least on the outside. On the inside it was like a volcano ready to burst.  
  
"Yes," she said through clenched teeth. "It's true. I'm dating Draco." Crystal looked as if Christmas had come a day early. The evil smile just said it all.  
  
"Well, isn't that a surprise," she said, trying to act as if she wasn't going to tell everybody all sorts of lies. Nora shrugged.  
  
"Yes, I was rather shocked, as well," she replied, wishing she could be anywhere but here talking to that slimy cow who had ruined weeks of her life.  
  
"Really? Parvati told me you two decided to get together after nine 'accidental' make-out sessions," said Crystal-Rose, smiling ever so sweetly and Nora knew it had been a really bad decision to tell the two most gossipmongers how she and Draco had gotten together.  
  
"So we did, what does it matter?" asked Nora coolly, wishing someone would come and drag her away, whether in a polite manner or in a brutal one that maybe slaughtered Crystal-Rose in the process.  
  
"Well, nothing much, really, but one would almost think you do not care about Dean's death as much as some of us," said Crystal, pretending to be on the verge of crying in such a fake way that Nora wondered why she even tried.  
  
"Who says I don't care about Dean's death? Besides, even if you really, really loved a person, it's very unhealthy, and not to mention fake, to mourn over him as much as you do," replied Nora, wiping the fake I'm-on-the-verge-of-crying-please-feel-sorry-for-me expression off of Crystal-Rose's stuck-up face.  
  
"We both know he never loved you and that you never loved him like I did," she whispered threateningly. Nora raised her eyebrows and folded her arms.  
  
"If you loved him so much than why did you cheat on him with some ugly 7th year Slytherin?" she asked, not bothering to keep her voice down. Crystal-Rose opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again. A few more minutes went by where she perfectly imitated a goldfish and after a while Nora got sick of it, not that it wasn't entertaining, and decided to speak again. "We both know you're a complete fraud and if you ever mention Dean in front of me again I'll see to it that you'll be able to go and visit him in heaven, or hell, and ask him which one of us he likes better. Now can I leave? You're making me nauseous," spat Nora and she walked past Crystal making sure to roughly bump into her on her way over to Seamus, the one she had wanted to go to before the snooty bitch had called her back.  
  
"Hi," said Nora, finally reaching him. Seamus turned around and smiled.  
  
"Hey, how are you doing?" he asked.  
  
"Much better than before, and you?" questioned Nora.  
  
"Same," he answered.  
  
"So, have you found a new best friend yet?" Nora asked him. Seamus chuckled.  
  
"Well, Morag's the only guy in my group and we're getting along pretty well, so I guess you could call him my friend, but I'm not sure about 'best' yet," he replied. "What about you? Have you found a new boyfriend yet?"  
  
"Well, it was tough, like you said, but I have a new one, yes," Nora told him, smiling. Seamus put his Butterbeer down on the table they were standing beside.  
  
"Really?" he asked. "Who?"  
  
"But don't judge me, because others have," said Nora. Seamus shook his head.  
  
"No judging," he told her. "Who is it?" Nora looked a bit unsure at him, but she knew he'd find out anyway, even if she weren't the one to tell him.  
  
"Draco," she said, trying hard to not look away from him.  
  
"Draco Malfoy? Really? That's great," exclaimed Seamus and Nora frowned at him.  
  
"What?" she asked, not receiving the reply she had expected.  
  
"That's great. . . isn't it? I mean, he's nice, isn't he?" said Seamus, a bit unsure himself now.  
  
"Well, yes, but how do you know? You've never really gotten a chance to see what he's like," Nora told him.  
  
"Well, I guessed if he had to help defeat Voldemort, he couldn't be the cruel Malfoy he was in 1st through 5th year," Seamus answered.  
  
"That's exactly what Hermione said earlier," said Nora, chuckling.  
  
"So, you four all have to help Harry defeat Voldemort. Who would've guessed?"  
  
"Not me," she muttered.  
  
"I bet, if he knew it up there, he'd be proud of you," Seamus told her. Nora smiled at him.  
  
"He better be," she said.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
At 8 o'clock Dumbledore stood on the raised stage and cleared his throat, ready to address them all.  
  
"As it is now 8 o'clock exactly, dinner will be served," he began, when everyone had finally gone silent. "I assume you all know the procedure: just pick up the menu and tell it what you wish to eat," he explained before walking off the platform and to a table where all of the other teachers were sitting. There was a lot of movement as everyone went to a table to sit with their friends. Nora quickly said goodbye to Seamus and Morag, who had walked up to them a while ago, and made her way to Draco who was waiting for her with Padma and Justin at a table where four unknown fifth years sat.  
  
"So where do we sit?" asked Nora. Draco, Padma and Justin looked at the table. "Here?" They nodded and took a seat. Nora looked around; trying to see where Harry, Hermione and Ron were sitting but Draco soon pulled her down into her seat. The four unknown fifth years didn't really pay much attention to them, so they guessed it was all right if they sat there.  
  
Dinner passed happily during which everyone chatted animatedly over the soft classical tunes that the band was now playing, the vocalists on a break, and when dinner had ended about an hour later the lead singers returned and couples made their way to the dance floor again.  
  
The longer the feast went on the more drunk and sillier the students got. A couple of Slytherins had apparently put some alcohol in most of the drinks, affecting many people. Harry, for one, had run up on the stage, grabbed the microphone from a vocalist and begun singing very loudly, and very out of key, 'Stood up for love'. He was soon joined by Nora who was later pulled back down by a bit soberer Draco, after she had, fruitlessly, tried to take her dress off, with the zipper still up. A couple of Hufflepuff girls were wobbling around the Ballroom, giggling persistently, tripping over their own feet the whole time. Ron had run around screaming like a girl for fifteen minutes when a mob of, drunk, Slytherin first year girls had begun chasing him, all declaring their love for him. By then Harry had run up on the stage again and begun singing 'Why do birds suddenly appear', much to the amusement of the others. Hermione had grabbed Terry and was now snogging him somewhere in a dark corner, though she had earlier said not being guilty of ever snogging in public. Professor Snape, who had had a couple of highly alcoholic drinks himself, had pushed Harry off of the stage and begun singing 'It's my party and I'll cry if I want to', a song apparently known by wizards as well. A hiccupping Dumbledore soon joined him.  
  
Needless to say, the feast was becoming more and more amusing as the students, and teachers, got more and more drunk, McGonagall had even been seen letting her hair out of its tight bun, something that had never yet been witnessed by anyone. Hermione and Terry were still hidden in some dark corner, as well as many other couples, and they were snogging happily while Harry formed some kind of karaoke.  
  
But there were a few times when Harry took a break to go get some more alcoholic drinks, and during these songs every one would dance peacefully again, those who weren't having a make-out session in some secluded corner, that is. This was one of those 'alcohol breaks' as Harry called them and he sat down at the bar, hiccupping happily, all drunk and talking about his youth problems with completely unknown other drunk students.  
  
And I'd give up forever to touch you  
  
'cause I know that you feel me somehow  
  
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be  
  
And I don't want to go home right now  
  
Nora and Draco were dancing as Harry filled up on more intoxicating drinks. It was a rather slow song, Iris, by the Goo Goo Dolls, and they were so close together it seemed they were attached and couldn't let go.  
  
And all I can taste is this moment  
  
And all I can breathe is your life  
  
'Cause sooner or later it's over  
  
I just don't want to miss you tonight  
  
The two of them had their eyes closed, listening to the words as other couples did the same, a few hiccups and drunken giggles heard here and there.  
  
And I don't want the world to see me  
  
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
  
When everything's made to be broken  
  
I just want you to know who I am  
  
Nora felt as if this song described everything she had been feeling at the beginning of this feast. Now she wasn't so troubled anymore. Alcohol made all of those worries seem unimportant as you wobble around unsteadily, searching for more alcoholic drinks. But of course, women do that without alcohol as well, damn high-heeled shoes!  
  
And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming  
  
Or the moment of truth in your lies  
  
When everything feels like the movies  
  
Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive  
  
It was rather peaceful, all of those students up on the dance floor, dancing with each other, the stars, which were now to be seen outside as well, twinkling brightly through the enchanted windows.  
  
And I don't want the world to see me  
  
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
  
When everything's made to be broken  
  
I just want you to know who I am  
  
More peacefulness.  
  
And I don't want the world to see me  
  
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
  
When everything's made to be broken  
  
I just want you to know who I am  
  
There was a bit of a commotion as Harry tripped, and giggled, while making his way back to the microphone, but he'd take a while longer before actually reaching it at last; he was really, really drunk.  
  
And I don't want the world to see me  
  
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
  
When everything's made to be broken  
  
I just want you to know who I am  
  
Harry finally reached the microphone, a bit quicker than expected, and sang the last three lines himself.  
  
I just want you to know who I am  
  
I just want you to know who I am  
  
I just want you to know who I am  
  
People had to admit, even though Harry was really liquored up, he could sing rather well, but then again, their hearing may have been affected by either all of the alcohol or Harry's awful singing, or both. Anyway, at this moment Harry was a good singer. Somewhere a clock sounded, telling them it was 12 o'clock. Many of the more sober people turned to look at Dumbledore, who was skipping around the extra food table somewhere, to see if the feast was over now, the other more drunk students just wobbled around, giggling and laughing.  
  
To everyone's annoyance someone had cleared all of the drinks of alcohol and they would now have to do with whatever toxics they had stored in their bodies.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Urgh, I have a major headache," muttered Hermione around 3 o'clock as she sat down in the first chair she could reach, with her head in her hands.  
  
"Same here," said Nora as she sat beside Hermione, resting her head on the table. "Don't you have a spell against hangovers or something? My head's killing me."  
  
"I do, but I don't want to move. I ache all over," replied Hermione, not looking up.  
  
"Well, then you shouldn't have snogged in such uncomfortable places, but please, I beg you, cast that anti-hangover spell, pleeeaaase," whined Nora, wincing when Harry sang a particularly loud key.  
  
"All right, all right," said Hermione sighing. She raised her head with difficulty and shot the spell in Nora's direction, who immediately smiled, relieved that all the pain in her head had vanished. Hermione cast the same spell on herself and smiled as well, feeling so much better.  
  
"My head!" screamed Draco collapsing in Nora's lap, clutching his head.  
  
"How much have you had to drink?" asked Nora. "Even my head didn't hurt that much." Draco made an unknown gesture and Nora guessed it was supposed to be a shrug.  
  
"I dunno," he replied in a whiny voice. "I played a few drinking games with Harry when he was on his 'alcohol break'. Argh, my head!" he screamed again. Hermione cast the anti-hangover spell on him to and he gave a sigh of relief.  
  
"I could kiss you, 'Mione, but I won't. Instead I'll go snog Nora somewhere secluded," he told her, flashing a perverted grin, and before Nora could protest, he dragged her away. Hermione laughed and got up to find Terry.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
It was clear that the feast was coming to an end. Almost everyone had cast anti-hangover spells on each other to relieve the pain and the tiredness they were all feeling was clearly visible. A couple of first years had even fallen asleep.  
  
At 5:45 in the morning, almost 12 hours after the feast had started, Dumbledore stood up on the stage again, no sign of drowsiness visible.  
  
"Alas all good things must come to an end, and this feast will finish at 6 o'clock exactly. I suggest you all find your friends and say goodbye, and I hope all of you will remember the five, Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco, who might not survive the Second War. 15 minutes until you leave, Parvati, Lavender and Terry included," Dumbledore told them and everyone hurried around to find their friends. Nora, who was standing with Draco to the side, could see Hermione trying hard not to cry as she said goodbye to Terry, after all, this may be the last time she ever saw him again. Parvati and Lavender were rather tearful themselves, and Nora felt guilty that she didn't need to say goodbye to the one she loved, since Draco was one of the five. But then again, Nora had already had to say goodbye to the one she loved before.  
  
"I'm going to go see Seamus for a second, all right?" she asked. Draco shrugged and nodded before Nora gave him a quick peck and went to find her fellow Gryffindor.  
  
"Well, hello there, Dracy-poo," came a drawling voice Draco knew all too well, unfortunately.  
  
"What do you want Parkinson?" he asked, turning around, his voice as cold as it had been those years before. Pansy's eyes narrowed.  
  
"What did I just witness before the mudblood walked away?" she demanded. Draco shrugged.  
  
"I have no idea. Please tell me what you saw," he told her in a bored voice, his eyes wandering around the room, wanting to look anywhere but at her ugly face.  
  
"You and the mudblood kissed. In fact, you've been hanging around that piece of filth throughout the whole feast. And why is it, that you have to defeat Voldemort?" demanded Parkinson. Draco shrugged again.  
  
"I don't know why I have to defeat Voldemort. I just do," he lied.  
  
"Then why did you and the mudblood kiss!?" shrieked Parkinson.  
  
"Why?" asked Draco. Was Pansy really that stupid and hadn't noticed yet that he and Nora were going out? Merlin, she was dumb.  
  
"Because it is my business," she replied. Draco sneered at her.  
  
"I think not," he replied and walked past Parkinson, who had decided to go over to the feel-sorry-for-me tactic. She grabbed his arm and said:  
  
"But I love you! You were my first, and I was yours." Draco grimaced.  
  
"Which I fully regret," he muttered. "Look, Parkinson, I want nothing to do with you. Now can I leave? I want to use the last few minutes to say goodbye to everyone." It wasn't really true; he just wanted to get the hell away from her.  
  
"But, but, Dracy-poo!" whined Parkinson. Draco pulled his arm out of her grip.  
  
"Don't call me that and piss off you hideous cow," he said rather aggressively before marching off towards Nora, ready to tell her how much he really appreciated her. He shuddered at the thought that he had ever been with Pansy Parkinson. When Draco finally reached Nora, who was still talking with Seamus, he gave her kiss on the cheek and she looked at him, frowning.  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"What was that for?" asked Nora suspiciously.  
  
"Just to say how much I really love you," replied Draco, smiling innocently, but when Nora continued to look suspicious he added, "I just ran into Pansy Parkinson."  
  
"Ah," said Nora, smiling at him in understanding.  
  
"1 more minute," Dumbledore told them. Nora turned back to Seamus, who was smiling at her and Draco.  
  
"Well, bye," said Nora, a bit awkwardly. "I guess I'll see you around, maybe." Seamus nodded.  
  
"Definitely. I just know you guys can defeat You-Know-Who," he replied.  
  
"Thanks," said Nora. She gave Seamus a hug. "Hope you and Morag become best friends," she told him grinning. Seamus laughed.  
  
"And I hope you guys stay together, which I just know you will," he said.  
  
"You sure know a lot, don't you?" asked Nora playfully. Seamus winked at her and then shook hands with Draco right before everyone in the Ballroom disappeared. Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron, Draco, Dumbledore and the teachers were left standing in the large room. There was silence for a few seconds before Hermione slumped to the floor and began crying.  
  
A/N: I know this took really long but I have excuses:  
I received my report card and it was awful. My grades had totally plummeted and so now I'm spending way more time on my homework.  
Depression followed the bad report card, because of it, and just really didn't feel like typing for a while. (I'm so, so sorry!)  
And, worst of all, I figured out, by myself, that I probably inherited this heart disease from my mum, so I was completely thrown off by that.  
Once again, I'm terribly sorry, but I hope that the length of this chapter makes up for it at least a bit. Hope you guys like it.  
  
Dumbeldave - Ha, I updated, see how you like that! But of course, if you've gotten this far, you've caught up again. . .  
  
Skins Thunderbomb - Yes, they are back together again! Glad to see you're so happy about it, oh and by the way, the plot bunnies you sent me really, really helped, THANKS! =D 


	40. The Sighting of the Snake

A/N: Nearing the end of the story, now, only a few chapters left I think. . . =(  
  
Chapter 40: The Sighting of the Snake  
  
Nora watched Hermione sob for five minutes with sympathy, while Harry and Ron looked very sullen at the ground and Dumbledore and the teachers cleaned up the Ballroom with their wands. After receiving a little squeeze in her hand from Draco, Nora slowly took her hand out of his and moved a step backwards. Draco looked at her, a slight frown on his face. Nora tilted her head to the side a little as she watched him wonder what was wrong with her now.  
  
"I think maybe we shouldn't get too close, now that Hermione's feeling so miserable of never seeing Terry again, as well as Harry and Ron about Parvati and Lavender," she whispered. A mild anger blazed inside Draco. What, he was finally with the girl he loved and now he couldn't be with her just because it might upset three people who have been together with their loved ones for a whole entire year, while he had suffered unmentionable pain every freaking night for even more than a year, thinking he'd never be able to be with Nora!? Oh, the selfishness of some people! But, as he thought that, he realized that he was being selfish as well. It wasn't too much trouble to just hold back for a while, at least he and Nora could always hide in a broom closet of some sort and make out when they felt like snogging. So Draco sighed and nodded.  
  
"Thanks," whispered Nora and she made to give him a kiss, before remembering what they had just decided and instead whispering, 'I love you' before walking slowly to Hermione, fidgeting nervously with her dress that had been specially made for the feast, which, all in all, had been one of the better feasts they'd ever attended, except for the ending. Draco just stood still in one place as Nora tried to make Hermione feel a bit better and while Harry and Ron were glaring gloomily around the Ballroom.  
  
Dumbledore and the teachers finished tidying up and most of them left without another word, not wanting to disturb the students even more, but some of them, like Professors McGonagall and, for some reason, Snape, walked over to every one of the five and wished them good luck with sorrow in their eyes, for was it really the right thing to do to have such young children fight in the Second War? Would it not ruin the future of their lives if they were to survive, and would it not be horrible murder if they did not? And when on earth did things become so complicated? Too many questions swirled through their minds, clouding and fogging everything, so that thinking clearly was almost impossible, but it was Dumbledore, of course, who knew exactly how to help these children forget, even if it was for a short while.  
  
"Now, you five have mastered defending yourselves, but you still have to learn how to attack, because that will be the most important thing during the Second War," he began. "Which is why we are going outside right away to learn some spells and charms that have proved themselves highly useful to many, including myself. Professors McGonagall and Snape will observe and help if they find it necessary. Just follow me," he said and Dumbledore walked out of the Ballroom with McGonagall and Snape as Nora helped Hermione up and joined Harry, Ron and Draco.  
  
"Wait, sir," panted Nora, trying to keep up with Dumbledore and still supporting Hermione at the same time.  
  
"Yes, Ms. Glassyd?" asked Dumbledore, turning around. Nora looked down and indicated at her dress.  
  
"How on earth are we supposed to fight if we're dressed like this?" she asked. Dumbledore slapped his forehead.  
  
"I completely forgot. Well, you five change into some normal clothes and meet me, McGonagall and Snape in the clearing in front of the castle when you're all set and ready to go," he told them. Nora smiled and Disapparated to her room, taking Hermione, who needed some comfort, and help, with her. Nora changed into shorts and a tube-top first and, after putting on her sneakers as well, she walked Hermione into her own room and forced her to change clothes as well. When both of them were completely dressed and ready to go, Hermione plopped down on her bed. Nora rolled her eyes, before realizing she must have been that irritating, or even worse, as well when she and Draco had split up.  
  
"Look, 'Mione," she began, sitting down next to her friend. "You'll see Terry again, I promise." Hermione snorted.  
  
"Yeah, right."  
  
"No, really. I mean it. You'll survive the Second War, I just know you will. And if not, well, you know you'll see him some day again. . . but, no, you'll totally survive and live to see Terry again. Mark my words," Nora told her. Hermione shrugged. "And if you actually want to survive, you've got to stop acting so silly and come down with me so we can study some curses to shoot at the Death Eaters," Nora added. Hermione chuckled.  
  
"I guess. But you promise I'll see Terry again?" Nora nodded.  
  
"Yup. I totally swear you'll see him again. Come on, cheer up. I need you, remember?" Hermione chuckled again.  
  
"All right. But only because you'll completely fall apart without me," she said grinning, though the sadness was clear in her eyes. The two girls gave each other a hug before Apparating onto the clearing where, strangely enough, they were before Harry, Ron and Draco, who arrived five minutes later. Dumbledore smiled when all of the five were present and he cleared his throat. McGonagall and Snape stood to the side.  
  
"The first spells we're going to practice are the simple ones you've learned long ago: the four-point spell, Expelliarmus, Accio, and Stupefy and Enervate. I want you all to form a line and, one at a time, perform those spells on me in the order I just said," Dumbledore explained. Harry, who had been closest, was at the front of the line and he took a few steps closer to his headmaster.  
  
"Point me," said Harry as he held his wand on the palm of his hand. His wand spun around and stopped, pointing to the left. Harry then held his wand the right way and pointed it at Dumbledore. "Expelliarmus!" he yelled and Dumbledore's wand, which had been raised as well, flew out of his hand, as the old man smiled. "Accio!" The headmaster's wand flew into Harry's hand, coming from somewhere to the right. "Stupefy!" he shouted next and the red flash of light that had shot out of his wand hit Dumbledore in the chest and he keeled over backwards, landing softly on the ground, which surprised Harry; he had expected a loud crash of some sort. "Enervate," he said and his headmaster awoke.  
  
"Ah, very well done, Harry. Very well done, indeed," he said as he got up and brushed off his robes. Harry smiled, but felt a little awkward with cursing the old man and knocking him out.  
  
When the five students had all flawlessly cast the five basic spells on their headmaster they moved on to the basic jinxes and charms.  
  
"First we will try the Patronus charm, again, something you should be able to do without any effort," Dumbledore told them and with a wave of his wand it grew dark and a hundred Dementors towered over them, leaving no room to escape. Harry wondered how on earth Dumbledore had gotten all of these soul-suckers, and if the old man had lost his mind, but he quickly shouted, "Expecto Patronum," upon hearing a woman's scream echoing through his head. His silver stag cantered around and charged at the nearest Dementors, one of which bumped into another one, causing a domino effect. Harry chuckled; Of course they were Boggarts, Dumbledore would never endanger them with real Dementors. He looked around and saw the Patronus' of the others' charging down the Boggarts as well.  
  
"Good, very good. I knew this wouldn't be difficult for you," said Dumbledore, applauding them as the sky turned light blue again and the sun came back into view. "Now we will practice the Impediment Jinx, which will slow down opponents, objects or spells, and obstruct them. You may all practice on me again." They practiced the Impediment Jinx five times, and al the while they performed exceptionally well, having already learned it.  
  
"The Jelly-legs jinx you all probably know as well. It will make your opponents legs wobbly. I will be your guinea pig." All went perfectly well as they practiced the jelly-legs jinx, Rictusempra, a tickling curse, Tarantallegra, a dancing spell, and Petrificus Totalus, which binds the arms and legs together of your opponent, for which they used Professor Snape, since Dumbledore was a bit too old to be falling on the ground so much.  
  
"Next we will learn the Mobilarbus, to move objects, and the Mobilicorpus, to move people, spells. These shouldn't be too hard," said Dumbledore and he was right. The spells were amazingly easy, partially because they already knew them, and also because Dumbledore was an easy target, just standing still. After that they had a hard time with the Furnunculus curse, which causes boils, which wouldn't go away as easily as they had thought. It wasn't until Professor McGonagall, after having recovered from the smile that had appeared on her face, she apparently didn't laugh very much, cast the counter curse, which Dumbledore had 'forgotten', that Professor Snape was able to become boil-less again.  
  
The Reductor curse came next, with which you could blast apart solid objects. Ron had hopefully asked if they could cast it on the castle and stay somewhere else from then on, but Dumbledore had replied they needed the castle for protection, leaving Ron rather disgruntled. The Reductor curse was harder than they had expected. Apparently, if you didn't cast it with enough force, the spell just bounded off of the object you were aiming at and come shooting right back to you, knocking you off your feet, as Nora, Hermione and Ron knew all too well.  
  
Deletrius was a spell that, like the Reductor curse, could cause objects to completely fall apart, and Ron had hopefully asked if they could practice this spell on the castle, but Dumbledore's answer was the same. Fortunately, this spell did not bound back to the caster if it was too weak, but it would not have much on the object it was cast on, either.  
  
The last one of the main spells, curses or jinxes was the Shield Charm which was highly useful, but if not cast forcefully enough, easily broken and therefore rather useless. Hermione, especially, was having a lot of trouble trying to cast one strong enough to resist Dumbledore's spells. It was not until an hour or two later that they were finally able to keep a strong shield up for a long time.  
  
"Now," said Dumbledore, wiping his forehead. The sun was shining brightly above them and there was not a cloud inside. Professors McGonagall and Snape had seated themselves on the fresh, green grass and continued to watch the five being taught. "The next spells will be much harder, and are N.E.W.T level or even higher. The first one we will practice is the Replacio spell. It switches the caster with its opponent and is used a lot when the opponent has just fired a curse. This way he is hit by his own spell. Pair up and I will work with Harry." Harry walked over to Dumbledore, wiping the sweat that was trickling down his forehead, away.  
  
The Replacio spell was as hard as Dumbledore had said it would be, and quite scary as well, because before they were able to switch bodies completely, they only switched body parts, which resulted in Harry switching an arm with Dumbledore, Nora switching hair with Hermione and, even worse, Ron switching heads with Draco. Professor Snape laughed at that one; so Ron sent a Furnunculus curse his way. Professor Snape cried at that one. Well, not really, but he was pretty furious with Ron. An hour later the five were rather good in the Replacio spell and they moved on to something else: the Peace of Silence curse. Dumbledore explained that this spell was a most dangerous and eerie one, for it prevented the opponent from hearing anything at all, leaving them rather alone. The five students thought their headmaster was rather right in saying the Peace of Silence was uncanny. You heard completely nothing, even though you could see others speaking, and it made you get slightly desperate to hear something, anything at all. Thus they were not at all surprised to hear that people, on whom this spell had been cast, went insane after a while.  
  
"That was the last curse for today. Tomorrow we will continue learning more spells, and the most important one of all: the Avada Kedavra curse. You will all need it during the Second Battle, if we want to win. Now go and have fun for the rest of the day," said Dumbledore, smiling sorrowfully at the five students. Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape got up off of the grass and followed the headmaster inside, ready to discuss the Second War, no doubt.  
  
"So what do we do now?" asked Ron, looking at his friends, all of who shrugged. The five of them plopped down on the grass, to tired and warm to do anything at all.  
  
"I wonder when the Second War starts," said Harry, lying down on his back and looking up at the sky. The others followed his example and they now lay with their heads together, just resting.  
  
"I don't know. But I hope soon, so these butterflies can finally vanish," replied Nora, unconsciously rubbing her stomach where the little annoying bugs were fluttering energetically, as they usually did when she was reminded of what was waiting for them.  
  
"Wow, remember first year?" said Ron. "When we had no idea of the dangers that would await us?"  
  
"Yeah," replied the others, sighing.  
  
"That really was a long time ago," muttered Hermione. "I wonder, at the beginning of 7th year, who will be there, and who won't."  
  
"You'll be there for sure, I promised you you'd be," replied Nora. "But the other students, I don't know. Death Eaters could be killing them and their families this very moment."  
  
"Thanks for the reminder," muttered Ron.  
  
"It's the truth," replied Nora, squeezing Draco's hand without really knowing it.  
  
"Do any of you believe that dead people can visit you in your dreams?" asked Harry quietly. There was a stressed silence for a moment. "Never mi-" he began but Nora cut him off.  
  
"I do."  
  
"Really?" he asked, leaning on his elbow to look at her over Ron. Nora nodded, turning her head to look at him. "Why?"  
  
"Dean," she replied simply. "Why?" Harry shrugged and looked at the sky for some reason.  
  
"Sirius," he answered. "He told me a while ago one of us would die unless something changed."  
  
"What!?" exclaimed Nora, Ron and Draco.  
  
"And you never told us!?" asked Ron.  
  
"I didn't want to worry you guys, and it kind of left my mind after a while."  
  
"Well, you still could have told us," said Nora, looking sternly at him. Harry gazed down at his hands a bit shamefully.  
  
"Don't be so harsh on him," interrupted Hermione. "I didn't tell you guys either, did I?" Harry and Ron gaped at her.  
  
"I never told you," blurted Harry, but Hermione had already begun explaining about the Amulet of Era's. When she was done it was silent again for a while as they continued to lie down on their backs, watching the sun move around the sky, slowly setting, as the sky gradually became redder and redder.  
  
"So, anyone, Truth of Dare," said Ron after a while.  
  
"Truth," replied Harry automatically. Ron grinned; someone had agreed to the game.  
  
"How long have you fancied Parvati?" he asked.  
  
"Erm. . . I don't really know. . . end of 5th year, I guess."  
  
"Ok, now you ask someone."  
  
"Truth or Dare, Hermione."  
  
"Truth."  
  
"When on earth did you get together with Terry?"  
  
"Beginning of 6th year," she replied. "Nora, Truth or Dare."  
  
"Truth."  
  
"When did you realize you were beginning to like Draco?"  
  
"Erm. . . I think it was after the first time we kissed, during the trip." Harry and Ron whooped and whistled, causing Nora to blush. "Ron, truth or dare," she said, trying to get them to be quiet.  
  
"Dare," answered Ron, proud he was the only one who hadn't chosen truth.  
  
"I dare you to, er. . . go get us some food," said Nora, after her stomach gave a rather loud growl. Ron grinned and Disapparated, arriving five minutes later with a large and fully filled tray of food. The five of them sat up straight and around the tray, so they could all reach.  
  
"All right, Hermione. Truth or Dare," said Ron while chewing on some chicken.  
  
"Truth," replied Hermione, smiling sweetly at Ron who looked a bit disgruntled.  
  
"Oh, well, then. . . er. . . all right, I can't think of anything else so: have you ever had feelings for anyone of us here and if so, who?" asked Ron, not looking too happy with his truth question.  
  
"Yes," replied Hermione simply.  
  
"Who?" asked Nora, frowning.  
  
"Draco." The other four goggled at her.  
  
"Well, I sure am popular with the ladies," said Draco, smirking.  
  
"Oh, don't cheer too soon, my perverted little friend," Nora told him. Draco glared at her. "Hermione didn't have feelings for you, or she'd have told me. . . right?" added Nora uncertainly.  
  
"No, I did have feelings for Draco," Hermione told her. Draco grinned. "Loathing." Draco frowned. Nora laughed.  
  
"Hmpf," he muttered. Harry and Ron both gave a small sigh of relief.  
  
"Draco, Truth or Dare," said Hermione.  
  
"Dare," he replied.  
  
"Ok. I dare you to tell us for how long you liked Nora."  
  
"What? You can't do that, can you? I might as well have chosen truth," said Draco indignantly. Hermione grinned evilly.  
  
"Then why didn't you?" she asked.  
  
"Because I knew I'd get this kind of questions," muttered Draco.  
  
"So?" asked Ron.  
  
"Yeah, just answer it," agreed Harry.  
  
"Yeah, don't be silly, Draco. I wanna know for how long you've liked me as well," Nora told him. Draco looked around, somehow trying to escape from answering that question. Maybe if he Disapparated. But, no, they'd find him sooner or later.  
  
"Fine," said Draco, raising his hands in surrender when the others had begun to chant, "tell us, tell us, tell us." "You want to know how long I've liked her?" the others nodded eagerly. "Since fourth year."  
  
"What?" said Nora frowning. "How come you never told me?"  
  
"Well, it's not that big a deal, is it?" replied Draco.  
  
"Wow, you've had a secret admirer for about two years and you didn't even know it," said Ron laughing.  
  
"That's the whole point of secret admirers, Ron. You're not supposed to know," Hermione told him. "Besides, you never knew Millicent Bulstrode thought you were cute." Ron's look of glee immediately turned into one of horror.  
  
"AARGH! Millicent Bulstrode!?" he asked terrified. Hermione and Nora nodded, smiling sweetly.  
  
"Right," said Harry. "Who's next, Draco?"  
  
"Oh, er. . . what?" he asked, completely confused. He hadn't been paying attention to the conversation, but instead watching Nora.  
  
"Who's next?" repeated Harry.  
  
"Nora, truth or dare."  
  
"Dare," she replied, though not at all liking the glint that had appeared in his eye.  
  
"Very good choice," he told her. Nora backed a way a little.  
  
"Why?" she asked uncertainly.  
  
"Because I dare you to kiss me," he said, a big smile on his face. Nora laughed softly, looking into his beautiful eyes.  
  
"We'll be back in five minutes," she told the others before grabbing Draco's hand and Disapparating.  
  
The five minutes turned out to be fifteen, during which Ron had gone to the kitchens for more food again.  
  
"Welcome back!" he said, chewing on some toast, when Nora and Draco appeared again. The two just grinned, a little out of breath.  
  
"All right, Harry, truth or dare."  
  
"Well, dare, I guess," he said.  
  
The truth or dare game went on for the rest of the evening, during which Nora and Draco were dared to snog each other 5 more times, all of those dares submitted by Draco. Ron went to go get some food again every half hour and Hermione was dared to do all sorts of 'wild' things, like running around pretending to be a chicken, just to prove she wasn't an uptight bookworm like the years before.  
  
When night had fallen the five lay back down on their backs and watched the stars, discussing the Second War, before falling asleep, not at all feeling chilly since the air was comfortably warm that night.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
A chilly breeze swept over the castle, rustling the leaves of trees as it past the forest and over the five students, who still lay snuggled up together out on the meadow. Another gust of wind rushed by, rounded the Quidditch Pitch, and came back, grass bending over as the strong breeze passed. Birds flew twittering frightened out of the forest in a sudden movement and they continued to screech as they circled the open area. Harry and Draco both jerked up and they looked around terrified before daring to look at each other.  
  
It was weird. Everything looked normal, but the feeling they had was everything but. It was the feeling of knowing something was going to happen, but not knowing what caused it, for the sun was shining brightly above them and there were only a few clouds in the sky. . . perhaps it was the strong chilly wind that kept rushing past them, or the constant anxious chirping of the birds that circled high above them. They knew something was very wrong today. It was weird.  
  
"What's that?" whispered Draco, straining his ears to hear. Harry looked at him questioningly, but Draco raised a finger to his lips. "There." And Harry had heard it as well. A rustling sound, coming from the forest. They kept straining to hear anything else, but with the constant howling of the wind it was almost impossible to hear anything else. Neither of the boys dared to move. They feared that if they did, something, or someone, would know they were there, like the feeling you sometimes get when you're in bed and it's so dark and silent you hardly dare to breathe, let alone move.  
  
"Should we wake the others?" asked Harry quietly. They both looked at the other three who were still fast asleep, but Draco noticed a tear slowly making its way down Nora's cheek. He gently brushed it away and she opened her tear filled eyes and looked into his, before gazing up at the sky, hoping to find some sort of comfort in it, or assurance that they'd live. The stormy wind lay down shortly and in those few seconds they could all clearly hear a loud rustling. Draco recognized it in fear from the day when Nymphirah had followed him into her death.  
  
"It's Nagini!" he whispered distraughtly, as the wind picked up again. Harry nodded, his expression fearful. Nora sat up straight.  
  
"Voldemort's snake?" she asked, her voice trembling. Draco nodded as Harry tried to wake Ron. Nora followed his lead and shook Hermione awake, indicating her to be quiet the moment she opened her eyes.  
  
"Oh, god. It's begun, hasn't it?" whispered Hermione frightened, sitting up with Ron, tears forming in her eyes. The five students sat there, not knowing what to do. Had Nagini detected them yet? Could they risk fleeing? None of them knew, and they didn't dare to make a single sound, fearing it'd lead Voldemort's snake straight to them. Chills ran down their spines as the force and coldness of the wind picked up even more. Voldemort had found them in the end and they still hadn't learned everything they needed to know to be able to fight him. . . but this was the beginning of the Second War, wasn't it?  
  
A/N: Well, if this chapter isn't very good, blame the cold and throat ache I've got. I've been coughing and sneezing all day. =( But I hope you guys liked it. I'll try to make the next chapter longer. Review please. =D  
  
Ted M. Hammett – I already sent you an e-mail about my story, in which I explained a bit about it. Thank you for reading, or trying to, at least, and reviewing.  
  
Athena_Kitty – Thank you for reading and Reviewing.  
  
Kat – Thanks for the warning. I'll go back and see if I can make Dumbledore a bit more Dumbledore-like, but I might just leave it. . . I don't know yet, but I'll see what I can do. Thanks for reading and reviewing. =D  
  
Dumbeldave – Thanks for the very encouraging words. I still can't believe there's someone who likes my story so much, lol. Thanks for having faith in me! And thanks for reading and reviewing as well. =D  
  
Skins Thunderbomb – Glad you liked my dress idea. It really would be cool if we'd be able to do that in real life, wouldn't it? No more worries about finding the perfect clothes *sigh* and I will e-mail you, if I ever need any more help. Thanks for reading and reviewing. =D (I think the plot bunnies you sent me are still hopping around somewhere, I just can't find them, yet. Oh, wait! Yes! I see one! No, never mind. . . just my real rabbit. . . =D hmmm, you can see it's pretty late.) 


	41. The Middle

Chapter 41: The Middle  
  
The five students sat soundless in the meadow, being as silent as they had never been before. They could hear Nagini's hisses over the constant howling of the wind, but they were sure she had not spotted them yet or the snake would have done something by now, wouldn't she?  
  
"Apparate," mouthed Harry to his friends, desperate for them to understand. "Apparate!" They others nodded and together they Disapparated, hoping so much it didn't make any sound which would tell Nagini there was anybody here.  
  
As if reading each others minds they all Apparated into Dumbledore's office which was filled with, to their surprise, the whole Order of the Phoenix. The loud, but nervous, chattering became a hushed silence when the five students appeared, fear etched into their faces and eyes, maybe forever.  
  
"This confirms it," said Dumbledore wearily, looking sorrowfully at the five students. "Voldemort has found us."  
  
"Nagini, his snake, sir. She's here," whispered Harry, not daring to raise his voice, in fear the snake would hear him if he did. There was much muttering amongst the members of the Order. Amid the crowd Harry spotted Tonks' currently raspberry red hair and saw her wave at him as Lupin, who stood beside her, looking extremely old and weary, gave a weak smile.  
  
"Why is she here? Why did Voldemort not come himself?" asked one fairly rough looking wizard who stood on the other side of the room from where Harry was currently looking.  
  
"He has sent her to break through the magical barriers that protect this castle, I suppose, as he had done with Hogwarts," replied Dumbledore, pacing through his office, intently watched by the members of the Order and the five. "Only immensely powerful animals can break through such barriers, no human would be able to."  
  
"When is Voldemort himself coming?" questioned Kingsley Shacklebolt in his deep voice, standing beside Dumbledore's desk.  
  
"I do not know. We will have to wait for his arrival, but remember, as soon as he enters the grounds of Hatsrowg, the Second War begins. Now, I need you all to get to the Ministry of Magic as fast as you can and warn everyone there. Come back as soon as possible. Around 15 Aurors will be needed to keep an eye out for Nagini, Voldemort and his supporters. I will be training with the five," ordered Dumbledore and almost immediately the members of the Order used a form of Apparation to Disapparate, leaving exactly 15 Aurors left standing in Dumbledore's office. Harry wondered how on earth they knew they were to stay, for he had not seen any of them conversing about it with the others. "You will take different posts in the castle and stand guard," Dumbledore told them before leading the five out of his office and towards where they were to train.  
  
"Sir, excuse me, sir. When will we know the Second War has started?" asked Harry, catching up with Dumbledore, who was taking rather quick, large strides.  
  
"We will know when Voldemort shows himself," replied the old man, no longer twinkling in his eyes or a smile on his face.  
  
"Yes, but when will that be?" inquired Hermione, her voice shaking greatly.  
  
"It is impossible to say. It may take hours, but it may as well take days, or even weeks," answered Dumbledore, making a sudden right. The five students, who had been taken completely by surprise by this unexpected turn, hurried to catch up with their headmaster again, for they had been standing still for a few seconds, completely startled, giving Dumbledore the chance to move many feet away. Draco held Nora's hand the whole way to what turned out to be the Kitchen, as Hermione constantly had to wipe tears away that kept forming in her eyes. Harry seemed determined to pry some information out of his headmaster while Ron let nothing except seriousness, penetrate through the shield he had set up.  
  
"Severus," said Dumbledore when they entered the Kitchen. Professor Snape walked over to the headmaster, attentively watched by the five students, who he gave a glare of irritation before turning back to Dumbledore.  
  
"I have handed out orders, Albus. The potions should be ready within the day," Snape said while behind him house-elves ran unnerved around the Kitchens, carrying trays filled with all sorts of ingredients over to the house-elves sitting by roughly 50 cauldrons.  
  
"Very well. Keep an eye out for anything unusual and make sure all of those 500 potions are ready by the end of today," Dumbledore told him. Ron's jaw dropped.  
  
"500 potions?" he whispered in disbelief as Professor Snape nodded to Dumbledore and then walked back to the center of the Kitchens. "What on earth for?"  
  
"Probably healing potions for during the Second War," Hermione told him, a bit irritated he could not think of such a simple answer by himself.  
  
"Very good, Ms. Granger," said Dumbledore, smiling at her, though it was plain to see he was feeling nothing but worry. "Now, let's get to the training room and revise everything we have learned so far. It will be foolish to try and learn something new when the Second War is so close."  
  
"But what about learning the Avada Kedavra curse!?" said Hermione desperately. "You said we only have a small chance of winning if we don't know it!"  
  
"I'm afraid we do not have time. It takes a long time before you are fully able to cast that curse if you're not dark inside," said Dumbledore. "Now, show me your skills in Apparating and Disapparating by Apparating into the Training Room." He then disappeared and the five were left no choice but to Apparate into the Training Room as well. When they landed in it, they were welcomed by a small applause, coming from Dumbledore. The Training Room, they noticed, was completely different from what they usually practiced in, for this one had marble floors and walls and no windows, or any other source of light at all, which was extremely peculiar, for the room was as bright as if they were standing outside in the sun.  
  
"The first thing we revise. . . actually, let's just go straight to battling, in which you will use the form of Apparation, the Amulet of Era's to regain energy, and of course the spells, curses and jinxes I taught you yesterday."  
  
"Will we be practicing on you again, sir, or on each other?" asked Harry. Dumbledore shook his head.  
  
"No, in order to see if you can properly fight during a battle, you will be practicing on members of the Order," he replied. The five students gaped at him.  
  
"But we're not good enough to fight them," stammered Ron. Dumbledore smiled.  
  
"I have perfect confidence that you are," he answered as five members of the Order appeared, all unfamiliar to Harry and the others. "You may begin." Instantly the five Order members singled out one of the five and shot a curse at them, which could be avoided only by Disapparating.  
  
The battle was quite interesting of course, especially for Dumbledore, who did not have to dodge any curses, and it appeared that, even though the five were only 6th year students, they could fight actually quite well, maybe just as well as the Order members. Harry for example dodged an exceptionally unexpected Avada Kedavra curse his heavily built opponent shot at him and he actually wondered whether or not Dumbledore ever considered the members to be, well, not really on their side and that he was now trying to kill Harry. But the thought left his mind immediately when the opponent shot an unknown curse at him that did not sound all too friendly.  
  
Ron, on the other hand, was having no trouble at all dodging curses, mostly because he did not even give his opponent a chance by shooting every spell he knew at her. But this strategy worked out quite well for him, he wasn't in any immediate danger this way, so he kept going at it, while Nora and Hermione had decided to just Disapparated and appear somewhere completely unexpected and then shoot something at the opponent. Draco fought like he had battled with extremely evil, and not to mention unfriendly and rude, people before and Harry guessed he may have had to battle Death Eaters in order to become one himself, but of course that thought was run out of his head as his opponent cast another evil sounding jinx at him. He did not like his opponent very much.  
  
After an hour of dodging and shooting curses Harry stopped to restock on energy and he walked over to Hermione, not before noticing his opponent sending another curse at him, which he immediately dodged of course; where was the fun in getting hit and falling flat on your face on some dirty, cold stone floor? When Harry had regained some strength he walked over to Dumbledore.  
  
"Sir, I think my opponent isn't one of the members of the Order," he whispered, looking highly serious, which was why he was annoyed when Dumbledore laughed. "What?" asked Harry affronted.  
  
"I used to teach Jackson myself. What on earth makes you believe he's not a member of the Order?" inquired Dumbledore.  
  
"Well, he keeps shooting Avada Kedavra curses at me and he, er, well. . . he looks a bit dodgy," answered Harry, feeling a bit childish. The old man laughed again.  
  
"Jackson isn't dodgy, and the Avada Kedavra curses aren't genuine, they are just to get you five used to the fact that they may be shot at you, so that you do not freeze up when one comes your way," he answered.  
  
"Oh," said Harry a bit bluntly. "Well, all right, then." And he walked back over to this Jackson to regain their battle, though he still stubbornly thought his opponent might belong to the other side. He even thought about letting himself get hit by one of these fake killing curses, but whenever the chance came he continued to dodge it, fearing that maybe they were genuine, unlike Dumbledore had said. In any way, Harry was acting like a little child all through the battle, but he still did amazingly well, considering the fact he feared Jackson and didn't dare look straight at him.  
  
"Very well done," said Dumbledore while clapping his hands. "I will allow you to have some lunch and after satisfying our stomachs again, we continue, and might I add, you are all doing exceptionally well. If you fight like this during the Second War we will win, I'm definitely sure of it." The five students gave each other skeptic glances, feeling more nervous by the minute, but they gave their headmaster as much of a smile as they could form at the moment before Apparating into the Dining Room, butterflies fluttering around madly.  
  
Unlike usual, their appetites were rather small, and they only ate a few bites of whatever was piled on their plates before shoving it away, too nervous and worried to eat or even speak. Lunch ended fairly quickly and the five Apparated back into the training room, waiting for their opponents, who had probably went to grab a bite to eat as well. Dumbledore had said he'd have another Order of the Phoenix meeting and would not be able to watch, which did not make Harry feel much better, since he still suspected Jackson to be evil. But, again, he wasn't given time to think much, for as soon as the five members of the Order had Apparated back in as well, they started a second battle immediately, taking the five students completely by surprise. Ron even shrieked and toppled over.  
  
But Harry had to admit that, even though he was fighting an immensely energy robbing battle with evil Jackson, it did take his mind off of all of the worries that kept entering his mind, worries about Parvati, his friends and his family, the Weasleys. What would happen to them if they couldn't win and were murdered? It was too horrible to even think about. If they didn't win this Second War, the whole world would be lost.  
  
'Oops,' thought Harry as he jumped out of the way a bit too slow and felt the green curse of Avada Kedavra hit his arm. He rubbed his side where he had landed painfully and struggled to get up again, which, amazingly, he still could.  
  
"A bit sluggish, there, are we?" said Jackson laughing. Harry looked at him, confused, until he remembered the curses weren't real. But that still didn't clear up why his opponent was laughing and not shooting some more jinxes his way, like expected. "All right there?"  
  
"Huh?" said Harry, still dazed. Jackson pointed to Harry's arm, which was still rubbing over his side. He immediately stopped. "Yes. Yes, I'm fine."  
  
"Good." Harry nodded, still not trusting this strange man, which was very childish of him, which he knew. Before he knew it another spell hurtled towards him from the end of Jackson's wand, which he blocked with the shield, he had learned to cast just yesterday.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Are you saying, Albus, that we do not stand a chance?" asked professor McGonagall incredulously. Dumbledore lifted his glasses and rubbed the spot on his nose, where they usually sat, with two fingers, closing his eyes wearily in the mean time.  
  
"I do not know if we stand a chance or not, but for now it doesn't look promising," he replied after setting his glasses straight and opening his eyes.  
  
"But you said we'd be prepared this time, Albus!" exclaimed a furious sounding professor Snape.  
  
"I know exactly what I said, Severus, and we seemed to be prepared then, but it appears Voldemort has even more Death Eaters on his side than I thought, and not to mention the large force of Dementors. We don't nearly have enough Aurors and members of the Order to fight them and I'm afraid I cannot gather so many in such a short time. It seems forlorn at this moment."  
  
"Albus, you really should not speak-"  
  
"All we can do at this moment, Minerva, is pray," Dumbledore cut in, before walking over to the door that led out of his office, followed by Professors McGonagall and Snape, who were both looking grave.  
  
"What's this?" asked McGonagall sternly as she Dumbledore and Snape stopped dead in their tracks upon entering the hall. The five smiled innocently up at her.  
  
"What did you hear?" demanded Snape, taking a menacing step forward.  
  
"Nothing," replied the students in simultaneously. Snape glowered at them.  
  
"All right, then. What is it you five want?" asked Dumbledore. The five could see he knew they had heard every single word.  
  
"Erm. . . we wanted to tell you we finished training," replied Harry nervously. Dumbledore smiled bleakly at them before looking at his complicated watch.  
  
"6 o'clock already? You may go down for dinner. I will be there shortly." The five students nodded at quickly Disapparated before another word could be said.  
  
Dinner was an even more unpleasant event than lunch, but all of the five were glad Dumbledore never showed up, for it would've been unbearable; lying to Dumbledore was not exactly something to be proud of. Not a word was spoken as they poked despairingly at their food, playing with it, rather than eating something. They went up to their living room after only a few small bites and a sip of water, wondering if they'd ever eat again.  
  
Instead of sitting in front of the fire right away, they all walked over to the windows and carefully peered outside. Light of the setting sun reflected off of Nagini's back as she continued to slither around the grounds. Only after having seen Voldemort wasn't there yet, did they sit on the floor in front of the fire, feeling discouraged, useless, withering and so desperate it felt as if someone was slowly trying to rip them apart. Hermione and Nora silently cried, comforted by Harry, Ron and Draco, who were keeping themselves a lot braver than they really felt.  
  
None of them could get Dumbledore's words out of their head, no matter how hard they tried. If he didn't think they'd be able to triumph over Voldemort, then why even bother? But they all knew they'd fight him, no matter what. They owed it to all of the innocent people who had been killed, or who were yet to be murdered.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
When any of the five awoke, it was yet again first Harry and Draco who opened their eyes, once more with the feeling that something was wrong, though one glance out of the window told them everything seemed normal. There was an eerie silence in the castle that pressed upon their ears. Harry wondered if he'd gone deaf before deciding to test it by moving his arm around, trying to make as little noise as possible, but still making some that he can hear. Draco looked at him in confusion, wondering if his friend had gone completely mad, and Harry dropped his arm, allowing it to land with a *plop* on his lap. Ha, he wasn't deaf at all! It was just very, very quiet in the castle, which was a first.  
  
Draco stood up and walked over to the wall, carefully leaning sideways to peer out of the window, but not so much that someone outside could see him. Out on the meadow it was completely calm, which meant Nagini had gone to report to Voldemort. Harry walked over to him and looked outside, too, sighing. A year ago he had thought everything would be so much different when the Second War arrived, but at least now he was with his friends and if he died, it'd be in their presence.  
  
Ron's small cough brought Harry back to reality and he spun around to look at his friend.  
  
"Anything out there?" whispered Ron tormented, he of course thought Voldemort might already be there, waiting for them. Harry shook his head and walked back over to the place where Hermione and Nora still lay, both fast asleep, Nora in Draco's arms again. As Harry sat down next to them he wondered how he could've ever felt happy and content a few days ago. He considered fleeing, but knew it wouldn't be fair towards his friends and everyone else in the world. He would go into battle against Voldemort, but that did not lessen the amount of butterflies fluttering frantically in his stomach.  
  
"You know," whispered Ron, turning to look at Harry and Draco, "in a day we could already be dead."  
  
"Oh, great. That'll give us something to look forward to, then, won't it?" said Draco sarcastically. Harry snorted softly, but Ron shrugged as Nora hit him upside the head. Apparently she wasn't as asleep as everyone had thought her to be. Draco glared at her, rubbing the back of his head. "Stop pretending to be asleep!" he whispered. Nora stuck her tongue out to him.  
  
"Stop being a sardonic little git!" she replied. "You're ruining the spirit of it all," she added in the ethereal voice Trelawny always used. Draco chuckled as Hermione yawned and stretched herself out before sitting up as well.  
  
"I'm hungry," Ron stated bluntly. Hermione sighed and everyone feared another argument between the two, but instead she said:  
  
"Me too. Let's go downstairs. It's not like there's anything for us to do here." The five of them slowly got up and instead of Apparating into the Dining Room, they walked downstairs. Dumbledore wasn't present for breakfast and after having eaten a small bit, the five Apparated into the hall beside his office and knocked on his door before even getting the chance to hear one word, not wanting to get caught on eavesdropping again. Dumbledore opened the door and welcomed them inside. His entire office had been enlarged by an enormous amount, and even though it was now ten times its usual size, it was still packed with people, most of who were unfamiliar and looking rather foreign.  
  
"Ah, how nice of you to join us," said Dumbledore smiling. "I am pleased to say that so many people have come here in agreement to battle in the Second War, after I asked them in such short notice. Now, all of you may have noticed that Nagini has left the grounds, which means Voldemort will be turning up soon." Butterflies fluttered madly around. "I want those who are fully capable in casting a corporeal Patronus to only focus on Dementors during the Second War, which will allow the rest of us to freely wage war against the Death Eaters and for Harry and Draco to completely focus their attention on Voldemort." Half of the people present shuddered or winced. "If all goes well we will defeat him and, therefore, win."  
  
"What about our Zecret Weapons, Albus?" asked a well-dressed woman with a slight French accent. "Do we still 'ave them?"  
  
"Yes, Sabine, we still do," replied Dumbledore.  
  
"Und what about Voldiemort?" asked a man with a German accent, sounding a bit ridiculous. At least he wasn't wearing lederhosen, but just normal robes.  
  
"We do not know all of Voldemort's Secret Weapons, Hans, but the Dementors and the Unforgivable Curses are the main ones, as well as Voldemort himself."  
  
"What about the Giants?" asked an elderly man with scars to rival Mad- Eye Moody's.  
  
"I have received word that the Giants are on neither side and wish to be left out the Second War," answered Dumbledore, looking rather relieved.  
  
"Is it true Voldemort has dragons in his control which he will use to fight with?" questioned a man standing somewhere in the back and hardly visible. The ones in front of him moved aside a little.  
  
"I find it doubtful, for dragons are almost impossible to tame, especially when fully grown up, and they have a high distrust against humans. There is a larger chance for us to be able to tame them than Voldemort, so we need not worry," replied Dumbledore and again there were many sighs of relief to be heard.  
  
"Albus, are you sure we are with enough people?" asked Kingsley Shacklebolt in his deep voice. "You know it's better to be safe than sorry and I'm sure many more people would be willing to fight in the Second War." Dumbledore shook his head.  
  
"I do not think there is enough time and we already have many more allies than I could have hoped for, and these are the most skilled wizards and witches in the country. If we make our number even larger everything will become messy. We are fine as we are. Now, you five head towards the training room for some more training. Five opponents will come shortly," Dumbledore told Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco. They nodded and Disapparated, many people, mostly female, shook their heads in grief for the five.  
  
"Wow, did you see all of those people?" asked Hermione in aw when they Apparated into the Training Room. The others shrugged.  
  
"We've got more people fighting with us, so?" asked Ron.  
  
"They're not just any people, Ron," Hermione told him, her eyes shining brightly, as if she'd received 10 books for Christmas, which had come early. "Most of them are completely famous and have accomplished many and brilliant things. Remember Sabine?"  
  
"That woman with the French accent?" said Ron. Hermione nodded vigorously.  
  
"Yes, yes. She once fought off a fully grown dragon by herself and discovered a new use for dragon blood in the process!" she exclaimed. "And the man in the back-"  
  
"The one almost invisible and hidden behind everyone else?" asked Harry, a bit sarcastically. Hermione nodded again.  
  
"Yes, he invented all sorts of medicinal cures, like the Pepperup Potion."  
  
"That was him!?" asked Nora. Hermione nodded frantically.  
  
"He didn't look too bad, did he?" Nora and Hermione both gazed dreamily into space.  
  
"Looks like you've been replaced, my dear friend," Harry laughingly told Draco, who looked at his girlfriend in disbelief.  
  
"I look way better than him," he muttered childishly.  
  
"Sure you do," said Nora, tuning back in. A few minutes passed before five more Apparated in as well. By the excited squeak Hermione emitted the others guessed that their opponents were famous as well.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
When training was over, which had gone extremely well considering they were battling against immensely powerful opponents, Hermione told the others that the five women they had battled against had once created a shield charm so powerful it lasted during an entire volcanic explosion, which was about 3 days, and prevented them from suffocating on the dangerous noxious gasses and ashes that were emitted and kept them from being burned by the lava. The others had to admit, holding up a shield charm for 3 days was quite an accomplishment, especially during a volcanic eruption.  
  
The five of them sat down in their living room after dinner, completely exhausted from a whole day of training to fight. Now that they had heard all of the stories, from Hermione, about many of the people that had been in Dumbledore's office, they felt more confident in winning the Second War than before, but the longer it took to start, the more nervous the five got and for the second time in a row they slowly fell asleep beside each other in front of the warm crackling fire, which didn't seem to go through the skin, for they were completely cold inside as they dwelled on all of the things that could happen.  
  
A/N: Ah, you guys like it, don't you? I just know you do. =D  
  
Dumbeldave – Well, I guess it just needs some getting used to that people like my story and that I'm a gifted writer, as you call me, because I never really thought I was good in anything, and now it turns out I can write stories. =D Well, in any way, I certainly feel rather special now. Thanks for reading and reviewing. (Oh, and the coughing has become less, but now my nose keeps running. I hate having a cold!)  
  
Athenakitty – Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
Ananymouse – Glad you like it. Hope you catch up soon! Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
Nicki – Glad you like my story, as well. I put song lyrics in my story to kind of explain the feelings of the characters a bit better. Too bad you haven't heard any of them, 'cause I think they're really good, and sorry it annoys you. You're the first one who's complained about them, but I'll try to keep them out of my story. =) Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
Skins Thunderbomb – Actually, it's the middle of the end, but you were close, lol. And maybe you should cut down on your sugar intake, because you give really weird reviews when you don't, =P. Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing. 


	42. The Arrival of Voldemort

A/N: Got the idea for the beginning of this chapter at 11 p.m. hehe, you'll know what it's about as soon as you read the title. . .  
  
Chapter 42: The Arrival of Voldemort  
  
Draco woke up and immediately felt something was wrong, something was. . . missing. He kept his eyes closed, trying to think of what it could be, before realizing the comforting warmth against his side was gone and when he opened his eyes and snapped his head to the right, cricking his neck, his worst fear had happened: Nora wasn't there anymore. Draco jumped up and searched the room, which was already filled with sunlight pouring through the window. The others, awoken by his sudden movement, got up as well and rubbed their eyes sleepily, ready for another day of fear.  
  
"What's wrong, Draco?" asked Hermione as she yawned and stretched her arms in the air.  
  
"She's gone. . . not here. . . taken," panted Draco, frantically looking around, as if she were hiding somewhere in this room.  
  
"What!?" exclaimed Harry, Ron and Hermione.  
  
"Do you think Death Eaters took her?" asked Ron frightened. Hermione shook her head.  
  
"No, they'd have taken us, or at least Harry, as well. She must've left on her own, but how could she be so thoughtless!? Not even telling us, the nerve," she huffed. Harry automatically glanced out the window, checking if there was any sight of Voldemort yet, indicating the start of the Second War.  
  
"Erm. . ." he said, a little unsure. The others rushed towards the window in fear, but they did not see Voldemort outside, as dreaded, instead they saw Nora, walking slowly over the meadow, head tilted towards the sky, eyes closed, arms spread out, feeling the wind rush passed.  
  
"That stupid wench!" shrieked Hermione. The others said nothing. Draco turned completely pale.  
  
"She's an easy target, now, and it's too dangerous for us to go out there as well," whispered Harry. Draco became even paler.  
  
"We can risk it, can't we?" he asked weakly. "We've got to get her away from there." He Disapparated out onto the meadow, followed by Harry, Ron and Hermione, but Nora took no notice and continued to slowly make her way over the meadow, eyes still closed, head still tilted upwards, arms still spread out, as if ready to fly away. The wind that rushed past rippled her hair that hung lose and she smiled, smelling the scent of the forest.  
  
"Nora?" whispered Draco, walking beside her, watching her. Nora still took no notice of him. She wished he'd leave her alone. It was much easier when he did. How was she supposed to say goodbye to this world when they were here, watching her, wondering what on earth she was doing? But her friends had never really realized how close she was with nature. They never wondered why she loved lying out in the open, gazing longingly at the stars, or why she loved getting caught up in the rain, or feeling the soft wind rush by. They had always thought it was weird, just a strange nuisance of hers, but never had they wondered why she really did it. How people could take things for granted.  
  
"Nora?" Draco's voice was becoming more anxious, more scared. Nora opened her eyes, just to show him she had heard, but did nothing else. Why wasn't she allowed to spend her last time before the Second War, which she might not survive, doing what she had always loved doing?  
  
"Nora?" Draco's voice was completely desperate now, trembling and full of fright. She stopped, taking them all by surprise, gazing at them with sorrow filled eyes and shrugged. She would not explain. They would not understand. They never did. They never tried.  
  
"You'll get us killed," stated Hermione crossly, arms folded, foot tapping. Nora shrugged once more and instead focused her attention on Draco again. After having only really met him, realizing only shortly he was the one she wanted to be with forever, they may be parted again, perhaps eternally. Life had been unfair to her on many occasions, but, really, this was pushing it. She looked into his eyes, the beautiful grayness mixed with blue, seeing his concern for her and her sanity. Nora looked up again, her arms remaining by her side this time, and heaved a large sigh before looking sorrowfully at the ground, in shame. Hermione was right. Her selfishness of wanting to say her last goodbyes would get them all killed if Voldemort decided to show up then and there. As was bound to have happened sooner or later, tears slowly slid down Nora's cheeks and dropped onto the ground.  
  
Hermione unfolded her arms and sighed, a bit embarrassed by being so harsh on her friend. After all, wasn't this burden tormenting them every single one of them? Draco wrapped his girlfriend tightly in his arms, wondering how on earth this all could have happened, and, most importantly, why.  
  
"We should make a plan," whispered Ron, looking away from Nora and Draco, feeling for some reason glad Lavender wasn't here with him, to watch him and his friends suffer.  
  
"What do you mean?" inquired Hermione interestedly.  
  
"A plan, for when Voldemort finally does arrive. I mean, we can't just walk up to him and say 'Hey, Voldie, mate. Glad you could make it. Shall we begin then?' can we?" Ron told his friends, looking rather skeptically.  
  
"No, no, we can't do that. But we can. . ." Hermione trailed off and looked suspiciously around her. "It'd be even stupider to discuss this out here than trying to make small talk with Voldemort. Let's go back into the Living Room and talk about it there, shall we?" The others shrugged and nodded before they all Apparated into their Living Room.  
  
"All right, so we can't talk with him, but we can just walk up to him, or at least try to," said Hermione, when they were all seated.  
  
"What?" exclaimed Ron. "Hermione, he'll blast us away before we even take one step!"  
  
"No, he won't. He'll think it's a trap," she replied.  
  
"But, wouldn't it just be easier to Apparate in front of him and immediately shoot some curses, to take him by surprise?" suggested Draco.  
  
"Well, that would work, but it'd be better to let him think we don't know anything. I mean, when we Apparate in front of his nose, he'll know we've had training, but if we walk out on the meadow when he's there and pretend to be talking happily or something, he'll think Dumbledore hasn't even informed us about anything, and we'll show what we've learned somewhere during the battle, so he doesn't know what hit him."  
  
"I like that idea," said Nora, her throat a bit gruff. She cleared it and went on, "We hide our strength until we can really catch him by surprise with it. I think that'll work."  
  
"So when Voldemort is standing there, just waiting for us, we walk out onto the meadow, chatting happily, and be surprised to see him? Are you sure that'll have him fooled?" asked Harry skeptically.  
  
"Well, it's better than immediately showing him what we've got in store," said Hermione. Harry shrugged.  
  
"I guess."  
  
"And I suppose we'll be able to get closer to him, because Voldemort will probably want to talk a bit, blab about what he's been planning and stuff, like he does every time," said Draco. Harry nodded.  
  
"Yeah, so we'll be about a few feet away while he has a lovely chat with us and when the Dementors or Death Eaters appear the Order and foreign people will Apparate in as well," he added.  
  
"And then me, Hermione and Nora go battle some Death Eaters while you and Draco go defeat Voldemort," Ron said.  
  
"Is it just me or does this all sound way too easy?" said Nora, looking around.  
  
"Well, Death Eaters are stupid, so they'll be a piece of cake," replied Ron. Hermione and Nora rolled their eyes.  
  
"Not everyone has your low level of intelligence, Ron," retorted Hermione. Ron glared at her. "So the beginning we've got planned. What happens when the Death Eaters and Dementors arrive, what do we do then?"  
  
"Well, maybe we three," Nora pointed to Ron, Hermione and herself, "could pretend to be scared and run off to the side while Harry and Draco stay with Voldemort, but also looking confused and frightened. This'll still have him thinking Dumbledore never told us a thing." The others seemed to think this over for a while.  
  
"Good one," said Hermione, but Ron frowned.  
  
"I don't like it. That'll just make me look like a coward."  
  
"Ron, don't be so stupid and just go with it," said Hermione irritably. No one could get on her nerves as much, or as fast, as him. Ron folded his arms and glared at her.  
  
"We could all get rid of the Dementors by producing Patronus' which will just run around and get rid of the monsters and then you three turn to the Death Eaters," said Draco. Nora gave him a peck on the cheek.  
  
"Aw, you're so smart," she said. Draco smiled.  
  
"I am, aren't I?"  
  
"No," grumbled a still humiliated Ron. Draco looked at him for a few seconds, his expression unclear, before shrugging.  
  
"She thinks so," he said plainly and gave Nora a kiss, completely forgetting that they were supposed to stay away from each other because the others might feel lonely.  
  
"Yeah, well, she's not smart either," retorted Ron childishly. Nora raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Excuse me?" she said. "I believe I received 3 more OWL's this summer than you."  
  
"No you didn't," replied Ron, completely in denial.  
  
"I can show you if you want," said Nora, folding her arms. Ron said nothing, and instead pretended not to hear her. "Moron," she muttered.  
  
"Right, so, after we cast the Patronus' me and Draco will battle Voldemort and Ron, Hermione, Nora and, hopefully, the Order and foreign people will keep themselves busy with the Death Eaters, and when it's necessary, we use what we learned the last few weeks while staying in this castle," verified Harry. The others nodded, though Ron merely gave a grunt.  
  
"Ron, will you quit acting so stupid? You're not making this any easier," pleaded Hermione. Even though they were always bickering about one thing or another, that didn't mean she enjoyed it.  
  
"But everyone will think I'm a coward if I run away from Voldemort!" whined Ron.  
  
"No one will think you're chicken, they'll all think you're trying to protect us, all right? Now, please, act more cooperative," lied Hermione. Ron seemed to be thinking this over.  
  
"All right," he said excitedly after a few seconds; it never could hurt if everyone thought he was being all brave and trying to protect his weaker friends, could it? The others couldn't believe how easy it was to fool Ron at times.  
  
"Ok. So, what happens if someone from our side is injured, what do we do then?" asked Nora, looking around the group.  
  
"Well, they can probably Apparate back into the castle to heal themselves or something, and if not," added Hermione, seeing Nora open her mouth to ask just that," then one of us Apparates them inside and comes back immediately."  
  
"What if one of them dies?" asked Draco.  
  
"We leave them," replied Hermione sorrowfully. The others were about to protest when she cut in. "There's nothing we can do if they've died and it's better to just leave them alone than to try and bring them somewhere more peaceful, risking our own lives in the process." There was a moment of silence, which Harry broke by asking the question that was now running through all of their minds.  
  
"What if one of us dies?" Hermione seemed hesitant to answer, but she resolutely said:  
  
"We leave him, or her, too. It's safest." The others nodded slightly.  
  
"Besides, the dead ones won't care what happens to their body's, they won't need them anymore, will they?" said Ron, trying to sound reassuring. The others shrugged slightly.  
  
"Say, does the Shield Charm work against the Cruciatus Curse?" asked Nora thoughtfully, breaking the second uncomfortable silence that had settled.  
  
"I certainly hope so," said Ron. "And otherwise you just wait until it's passed and then shoot it at the person who sent it to you, give them a taste of what it's like," he rambled, a mischievous glint in his eyes.  
  
"You can't. Only those who mean the Unforgivable Curses, who really want to cause pain and enjoy it, can use them," said Harry dully, reciting Bellatrix' words from almost a year ago.  
  
"How do you know?" asked Ron, frowning. Harry, only just realizing his mistake, mentally slapped himself. He had never told his friends he'd used an unforgivable.  
  
"Bellatrix Lestrange told me in the Ministry of Magic," he replied hesitantly.  
  
"And why did she t-" began Nora slowly, but Hermione, catching on, interrupted her.  
  
"I've never used an Unforgivable," she said, folding her arms and looking sternly at Harry, who gave her a weakened innocent smile before raising his hand.  
  
"Harry!" said Nora incredulously. "You could go to Azkaban for using an Unforgivable, you know that!"  
  
"Well, it didn't work did it?" Harry replied a bit miserably. "It just knocked her off her feet, that's all. Besides, she'd just killed Sirius, if anyone should go to Azkaban it's her."  
  
"So that's why Dumbledore never began teaching us the Avada Kedavra curse," said Draco thoughtfully. "It'd take too long, because we first have to learn to enjoy casting it."  
  
"Only someone as messed up as Voldemort could come up with such useless curses," said Ron, shaking his head.  
  
"Yeah," agreed Nora, sighing.  
  
"Well, they're not actually useless. I, for one, think," began Hermione, but she immediately stopped at the looks her friends were giving her.  
  
"Please don't finish that sentence," said Nora, her eyebrows raised. Hermione remained silent, but she still did think that creating such curses, one to kill people instantly, one to cause severe and unbearable pain and one to control someone, even over a large distance, was rather an accomplishment, even if the evilest wizard to this day made it, just to help him become more powerful. "Good," said Nora, when Hermione stayed quiet. Harry rubbed his prickling scar, something it hadn't done for quite a while, while Draco frowned and rubbed his right arm. Of course, if this happened at the same time, Voldemort was definitely feeling something, so Ron asked:  
  
"What's wrong? Is he happy again?" Harry and Draco nodded, Draco still feeling it was weird that he could now read Voldemort's mood.  
  
"I think he's found us," said Harry.  
  
"We should go to Dumbledore, then," Hermione said. "Tell him we should expect Voldemort to arrive soon. They all nodded and Apparated into Dumbledore's office, which was still enlarged and still filled with all of those who were battling in the Second War. Harry wondered if they ever left this room.  
  
"Voldemort's happy, sir," he said. "I think he's going to be here soon." Dumbledore got up from his desk and walked around it, to the middle of his office.  
  
"Very well, now a few words before we will all wait patiently or impatiently for him to arrive. First of all, Voldemort is not only here to fight the Second War, but he is also here for the Amulet of Era's, so extra attention must be paid to Hermione, if she dies, the Amulet is less bound to our side and if all of the five die it is not bound at all, allowing Voldemort to be able to seize it. This is the most important thing to watch out for. Second of all, I want one group to focus on the Dementors and another group to keep themselves to the Death Eaters and third of all: all of you must pay attention to Voldemort at all times," said Dumbledore. Everyone in the room nodded their understanding. "Good, now, the five will all touch the Amulet right before entering the Second War. Yes, Cleopatra?" he asked when an Egyptian witch had raised her hand gracefully into the air. Harry thought her name was rather fitting. He may never have seen any pictures of what Cleopatra may have looked like but if someone asked him to describe her he'd just point at the witch currently speaking. Hermione leaned over to her friends and whispered:  
  
"I have another thing for our plan. We must try to not touch the Amulet in the beginning, so Voldemort, if he has recognized it for what it is, thinks we don't know what it does and will try to seize it and as soon as he does, his hand will be scorched."  
  
"How do you know?" whispered Nora.  
  
"Dumbledore told us earlier, remember?" Nora shrugged before frowning, clearly thinking hard, and saying: "Oh, right," when realization had dawned on her face.  
  
"But Albus," said a man from the right, arguing against whatever Dumbledore had just told the Egyptian witch. "Would it not be better to have the Metamorhpmagus' turn into Death Eaters and still fight for our side?"  
  
"I believe Voldemort would notice to quickly and will try to kill them, even if it is under the danger that he murders his real Death Eaters by mistake," began Dumbledore.  
  
"And what if the Metamorhpmagus' turn into you, Albus?" said a rather strong looking witch on the other side of the room. There was an interested murmur, during which Dumbledore thought it over.  
  
"Yes, Albus. They all fear you, and will not try to fight," agreed Cleopatra, the Egyptian witch, without the slightest hint of an accent. "That is the best solution."  
  
"I agree, this is a highly interesting idea, and I'm flattered," added Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling as he smiled around the room. There was an appreciative chuckle. "But, is it really the best solution?" Many of them answered 'yes' and a few even shouted 'of course it is!' but Dumbledore was still not sure. "But would it not be noticeable if five of me were walking around, Death Eaters would know it is not really me and their fear would be considerably less. No, the Metamorphmagus' will not try to fool the other side; it is impossible. It is best. . . unless. . ." Dumbledore now said thoughtfully, gazing upwards, thinking hard.  
  
"What is it, Albus?" asked many of the now very intrigued people gathered in his office.  
  
"Dementors," said Dumbledore. "They can change into Dementors and cast, hopefully unnoticeably, spells on the other side." Everyone erupted into loud muttering, all discussing this new idea. It sounded as if it would work, for no one would cast curses at Dementors, only Patronus', but since the silvery animals go after the real Dementors, the fake ones would be left quite unharmed.  
  
"Excellent!" boomed a fat Arabian king, smiling. "Simply superb, Albus! Your amazing mind astounds us all, once again."  
  
"Why, thank you, Obesa," said Dumbledore, smiling modestly. Everyone was now clapping so loudly, chattering relieved, that it went quite unnoticed when Harry slapped a hand over his scar and Draco over his dark mark, both boys wincing in pain, even though there was a happy, giddy feeling in their stomachs, which of course did not belong to them, since they were both full of fear. Ron, Hermione and Nora did notice, though, and they looked at the two boys questioningly.  
  
"He's here," whispered Harry, slowly letting go of his scar.  
  
"Then we should go," said Hermione. Nora glanced at Dumbledore and back at her friend. As if reading her mind, Hermione added, "We don't tell them, or we won't be able to stick to the plan we've formed. We apparate into the Entrance Hall and from there we'll do as we prepared." With a nod at each other the five students Disapparated, going completely unnoticed by everyone except Dumbledore, who smiled to himself. He always seemed to know and noticed everything.  
  
"Oh, wait," Harry told his friends and he Disapparated again, reappearing in the Entrance Hall only seconds later, holding his invisibility cloak.  
  
"What's that for?" asked Ron.  
  
"You'll see," replied Harry before throwing the cloak over the five of them. This may have been an easy thing to do 6 years ago, in first year, but now it was almost impossible, especially with the length they've all reached. The five of them huddled close together, trying to fit, and, with the butterflies, that seemed to have made a home of their stomachs, fluttering around like mad, they opened the double doors and walked out into the sunlight.  
  
Voldemort, a pitch-black figure, standing amidst green and blue, was positioned in the middle of the meadow.  
  
"What exactly is your plan, Harry?" asked Ron impatiently. If they were going to do something suicidal, he wanted to know in advance.  
  
"You'll see."  
  
"Not if he keeps looking at his feet, he won't."  
  
"Drop dead, Malfoy."  
  
"Don't be so impatient, I will soon enough."  
  
"Oh, no you will not. I decide when you die and it's not until a couple of decades when we're both old and wrinkly."  
  
"Do I have to?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Stuff it, Weasley."  
  
"Both of you, shut up, you're driving me crazy!"  
  
"Yes, Almighty Granger."  
  
"Oh my god! You two are enough to drive anyone insane!"  
  
"Draco, quit teasing her, we still need her to win the Second War, remember?"  
  
"Fine, but you didn't say anything to Ron! He's in on it, too."  
  
"Oh, you are such a – Ron! Stop making faces!"  
  
"How did you-?"  
  
"Oh, please, as if I need to see you to know you're making faces."  
  
"Ok, now here's my plan," said Harry, reluctantly interrupting the bickering that was now going on between the four friends; he thought it was actually quite funny. His friends looked at him, or, well, in his direction, since they were all still invisible.  
  
Voldemort stood still in the center of the meadow, calmly watching the castle. He knew someone was there, walking towards him, he had seen the doors open and close, and the person was coming closer. It might be Harry Potter, the snot-nosed little brat, but he must not make any rash decisions, for it could as well be the old fool Albus Dumbledore. Either way, the invisible being was nearing him by the second; he could smell it.  
  
A couple of meters away from Voldemort, Harry threw the invisibility cloak off of him and his friends and looked back at the castle.  
  
"I still can't understand why Dumbledore wouldn't let us outside, but I'm glad I brought my father's cloak, I really need the fresh air," he said loudly. He let the cloak drop on the ground but froze instantly, seeing the maliciously smiling man standing in front of him. Draco froze as well, his glare as cold as ice. Hermione and Nora gasped, gave a few whimpers and automatically took a step backward. Ron gave a yelp, tripped over Harry's invisibility cloak and fell over backwards. Until the day he died he said he was just an incredibly good actor and that it was all part of it. Of course, no one believed him.  
  
"Well, well, well," said Voldemort softly. His terrible snakelike face, which was white and gaunt, was smiling and his scarlet, slit-pupilled eyes were examining the five students in front of him. "The famous Harry Potter and his friends, the poverty-stricken and insult to all wizards Ronald Weasly, the mudblood Hermione Granger, the other mudblood Nora Glassyd and of course, her loving 'boyfriend' as you children call it, and my heir Draco Malfoy. Yes, I took the liberty of looking up your names," Draco had the large urge to cough and say 'loser', but he did not think it was very smart to get himself killed even before the Death Eaters had arrived. "This way I know who are so foolish as to fight me. And now I'll know what to write on your tombstones," Voldemort added, following it with a hissing laughter. None of the five had had such a feared feeling of fright before as they stood in front of the cruelest wizard in the world. Would he be offended if they wet themselves?  
  
A/N: Ah, well you all know what chapter comes next, don't you? The Second War, that's right. Now I'm going to be taking my time writing that, since it's rather important and since my end of term exams are coming up again and I really need to get good grades in order to pass. Hope you guys don't mind.  
We so totally have the worst weather here: There was no, or hardly any, snow in December and now, in February, it's won't stop! And. . . Well, it's just really weird, but I won't bore you with all the details. =D  
Hmmm. . . no review from Skins Thunderbomb this time?. . . =( Well, I can't expect you guys to review every chapter.  
  
Dumbeldave – Yeah, colds suck. They always stay for soooo long and prevent you from breathing properly, hmpf. Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing. =)  
  
Athenakitty – well, I don't think Nagini is going to die and get skinned, that doesn't sound too tasteful. Thank you for reading and reviewing. 


	43. The Second War Part I

A/N: I'd like to thank Skins Thunderbomb, because she gave me some excellent ideas for this chapter, and I couldn't have written it without her! Thanks! Now remember, the five are pretending not to know anything, so don't get off track by the things I write, all right?  
  
Chapter 43: The Second War – Part I  
  
"What are you doing here?" asked Harry, his voice expressing just how scared he really felt. Voldemort gave a high-pitched cackle.  
  
"'What am I doing here?' he asks. Aw, has Dumbledore not informed any of you about 'events' that will be happening?" he asked, his red eyes glinting with glee. The five students looked uncertainly at each other before turning back to Voldemort again. What did Dumbledore not tell them now?  
  
"What do you mean?" demanded Draco forcefully. Voldemort looked at him, an evil little smile playing on his lips.  
  
"Dumbledore has really not told you? Tsk, tsk. How shameful," he said, a bit thoughtfully, this could after all be a trap. "Do you five, the five, mean to tell me that the old fool has told you nothing about the Second War, which has already begun?" Hermione gave a whimper and Nora nearly crushed Draco's hand, which she was holding with both of hers. Ron tripped over Harry's invisibility cloak again, but fortunately remained standing this time.  
  
"What Second War," demanded Harry angrily. Why on earth had Dumbledore not told them this!?  
  
"Patience now, Potter, unless you want one of your friends to leave so soon already," Voldemort said maliciously, pointing his wand at Ron. Harry glared at the man, but his mouth stayed closed. "Now," began Voldemort. "I assume by your stupidly confused looks that Dumbledore has not informed you that when I arrive on these grounds and am sighted, the Second War has immediately begun?" The five weakly shook their heads. Voldemort gave another cackle. "Has he told you foolish children that you are the five, then?" he asked, glee all over his snake-like face. There was a few seconds silence.  
  
"The what?" asked Hermione unsurely.  
  
"The five, mudblood. The five," Voldemort told her impatiently. "You five," he said, waving his arm, indicating them, "are the five."  
  
"And what do they do?" asked Ron stupidly. Voldemort grinned nastily.  
  
"You defeat me. . . or at least: you try to." Ron immediately turned pale and looked like he could vomit any second.  
  
"I thought I was the one destined to kill you," said Harry, his look icy. Voldemort gave another cackle, fingering his wand.  
  
"Not any more, Potter, your friends are now destined to die as well, though I expect you would rather have all the attention and glory for yourself?" he told him. Harry said nothing; instead he clenched his teeth and balled his fists, anger building up inside him. "Now, where is your beloved headmaster? I don't think it's like him to leave you unprotected for so long, when he knows of the dangers that await you."  
  
"He's probably standing somewhere near, watching you," spat Ron. In a second Voldemort's wand was aimed at him.  
  
"Watch your tongue," said Voldemort in a soft hiss, only to be heard by them, but Ron's words had obviously had an impact for he looked around suspiciously. "You know what. I have no doubt we are being closely watched by that fool." Ron smirked; he had managed to frighten the cruelest wizard. "Materialis!" shouted Voldemort and a small orb appeared in front of them. The five looked at in fear and wonder before they felt themselves being sucked into it, though they tried with all their might to keep their feet on solid ground. When the five were all trapped in that little sphere Voldemort gave a cackle of laughter and shouted another spell. The five students felt as if they were all being pulled apart, every single bit of them. Luckily it did not hurt, but instead a nauseous feeling grew in their stomach by the second.  
  
The next thing they knew the five landed with their feet hard on solid ground in a cold and damp dungeon where Voldemort was already waiting for them, smiling evilly, as the five toppled over onto the floor. The first thing Hermione and Nora did was vomit, and unfortunately the retching and splattering sounds it made on the cold stone floor caused Ron to throw up as well.  
  
"Rookwood!" called Voldemort, watching the three vomiting students with disgust. A Death Eater, who they assumed to be Rookwood, walked through the door and, not watching where he stepped, marched right into Ron's breakfast and slipped, his feet flying from underneath him, causing him to fall squarely with his back in the yellowish puddle with a squelching sound. Harry and Draco could not help snorting as Hermione, Nora and Ron smiled and wiped their mouths, wishing they had brought some breath mints along with them.  
  
"Yes, very entertaining," said Voldemort in a bored voice as the Death Eater got up and cast a scourgifying charm, glaring angrily at the five students on the floor in front of him. "Rookwood, I need you to prepare a guard for these five that will watch over them." The Death Eater nodded and left the dungeon again, carefully avoiding Ron's special made puddle. Voldemort turned to look at the five, the same evil glint in his eyes.  
  
"I think you will all like my plan. You see, at midnight you five shall all be murdered and the Amulet of Era's around the little mudbloods neck will be mine to seize. Oh, and this castle is unknown to any other man, so no one will be able to find you-" he told them.  
  
"How can this castle be unknown to man?" asked Hermione rather skeptically. "Surely someone knows of its existence." Voldemort looked at her with wide eyes, as if not daring to believe he, the most evil and powerful wizard in the world, had just been interrupted by a sixteen-year- old girl, but he answered all the same, as he usually did.  
  
"This castle once belonged to Merlin long ago and he put up many safety spells to ensure that it was never found by Muggles or Wizards."  
  
"Then how did you find it?" demanded Harry, getting up from his seat on the ground, the others following his example, watching Voldemort intently.  
  
"Let us just say, I had some help," he replied before turning around and stopping dead in his tracks. "I nearly forgot," he said, turning around. "Expelliarmus!" Five different wands flew from five different pockets and into Voldemort's outstretched hand. He smiled nastily and then spun around and marched out of the dungeon, locking the door behind him. The five slumped hopelessly onto the ground. Now that they did not have their wands, there was no way they could escape.  
  
"Wish he'd cleaned up our digested food before he left, though," muttered Ron.  
  
After that it remained silent for a full hour, all of them wondering how on earth they could've just been kidnapped by Voldemort and if Dumbledore had noticed they were missing yet and, most importantly, if he knew how to rescue them. But things were looking very hopeless, since they had no wands and had never been taught how to use the Amulet to get themselves out of situations like this. Could the Amulet rescue them out of situations like this at all?  
  
"I was wondering," said Harry. "And this has been bothering me for a very long time," he added. "If. . . how come. . ." he trailed off and looked at his hands.  
  
"What?" asked Ron. Harry looked up at the two girls, took a deep breath and began all over.  
  
"I was wondering, how come you two never dated anyone the entire time we were at Hogwarts. I mean, many guys would have given anything to. . . was it really because of us?" he asked, pointing at himself and Ron. Hermione and Nora stared at him as he had sprouted another head and declared he was gay.  
  
"Erm, this isn't exactly the perfect time to discuss this," said Hermione, waving her arm, indicating they were still being held hostage by Voldemort in an unknown castle.  
  
"But I want to know," said Harry determinedly. "I want to know if we really were as overprotective as you said, if we ruined one of the things that is most fun when you're still young." Nora sighed.  
  
"No, you two weren't as bad as we kept saying," she said, but Harry didn't believe her.  
  
"Ok, Harry," Hermione told him. "Let's go back a bit. All right, first year. We're new to the castle and browsing a bit for guys, but they're all too immature." Nora nodded.  
  
"Yes, and second year, well, the guys are grown up a bit, but we're all too frightened and suspicious to make any moves because of the heir of Slytherin and all of those people being petrified," she went on.  
  
"Third year, well, we began to browse again, but with Sirius around, and us thinking he was trying to kill you, we weren't paying much attention to the guys either, and the Dementors weren't making things better," Hermione told him, smiling consolingly.  
  
"Then fourth year, all right, here we were trying to get a guy, but again, we were worried about you and the Triwizard Tournament and Ron was being a snot-nosed little git, so that didn't work out," Nora said, glaring playfully at Ron, who shrugged.  
  
"Mind you, I had Victor Krum, but Ron didn't take that too well," Hermione added. "Fifth year, hmmm, yes, here you two were a right pain in the ass. No guy even dared to come close to us."  
  
"Yeah, and now sixth year, well, you two could've given us a bit more freedom as well," Nora said thoughtfully.  
  
"Exactly, like when you found out about me and Terry," said Hermione. "You two nearly exploded, but if we sum it up, you two weren't that bad, it's just. . . you could've backed off just the tiniest bit." Harry smiled.  
  
"Well, you could've kept your cool a lot more with Draco," Nora told him sternly, but when Harry opened his mouth to argue, she added smiling, "But I completely understand."  
  
"Group hug!" said Draco, and he flung his arms open. The others looked at him, eyebrows raised, trying to contain their laughter. Nora was the only one who actually bothered to give him a hug, but Draco did not seem to mind at all.  
  
"What time is it?" asked Hermione, smiling at Nora and Draco, who did not let his girlfriend go.  
  
"Nearly two o'clock," replied Harry. "Still ten hours to go until we die and ruin everyone's future."  
  
"I know!" exclaimed Ron excitedly. "Let's play a game!"  
  
"Of what?" asked Harry. Ron shrugged. Hermione looked at them as if they were crazy.  
  
"What?" asked Ron, when he noticed her staring.  
  
"Don't you guys think it's a little bit. . . weird to be playing games when what we really should be doing is. . . I dunno, planning a way of escaping?" she asked. Ron shrugged for the third time in less than five minutes.  
  
"Hermione, face it," said Harry. "We can't escape and we might as well spend the last bit of our lives doing something fun than thinking about what awaits us."  
  
"Oh, I know!" exclaimed Draco. "We could ask each other questions. . . it'd be like truth or truth."  
  
"Excellent!" boomed Ron and he seated himself more comfortably, looking at the others with an eager expression on his face, wanting to know who would begin. Hermione spluttered a protest but she was outnumbered by four to one so she heaved a sigh and seated herself in the circle the others had formed.  
  
"Who begins?" asked Harry, his emerald green eyes gliding over his friends.  
  
"I will," said Hermione promptly, already having a question in mind, something she'd been dying to ask for a while now. "All right, Harry, or Ron, why did you two have such a problem with Draco, when he and Nora began to date?" Nora frowned at Hermione but looked eagerly at Harry and Ron all the same.  
  
"We have a problem with everyone you date," replied Ron simply.  
  
"Not as much as with Draco," argued Nora.  
  
"Well," said Harry, and by the look on his face, she knew he wasn't going to say something she'd like to hear. "You see, we," he indicated to Ron and himself, "never forgot about the time when we found out in the beginning of sixth year that he, erm. . . 'touched' you, er. . . in places." By the end of Harry's sentence, which had taken a rather long time, Nora was blushing a deep crimson and Draco looked as if he'd rather the earth opened up and swallowed him whole.  
  
"That seems fair," said Hermione airily.  
  
"Don't get me wrong, we like you know," Harry told Draco, who did not dare look anyone straight into the eyes and was instead studying his hands.  
  
"Now one of you goes," said Hermione, pointing to Ron and Harry.  
  
"I'll go," said Harry, now intently watching Nora, who was still blushing. "Do you regret Dean died?" Nora's eyes widened in surprise and it looked as if they could pop out any second. Hermione was watching her friend, head tilted to the side, Draco was watching Nora out of the corner of his eyes, not really wanting to know the answer, and Ron was frowning at Harry. What on earth was this going to accomplish? For all they knew she'd break down once more. It took quite some time, while Nora thought the question over, before she shook her head.  
  
"Not anymore," she whispered. Draco heaved an audible sigh of relief and she stroked his head, smiling lovingly at him before kissing him gently. Harry gave a fake cough.  
  
"Get a room," he said when they looked up. Draco raised an eyebrow and Harry seemed to know exactly what he was thinking because he added, "On second thought: don't." Nora rolled her eyes.  
  
"Ron," she said. "With who in the whole world would you want to spend your final hours with?" Ron grinned.  
  
"With you guys," he replied simply.  
  
"Not even with Lavender?" asked Hermione. Ron thought this over before slowly shaking his head.  
  
"No, it'd just cause me more grief, and besides, I've been best friends with you guys, except for Draco, for a lot longer than I've been dating her. . . who would you rather spend your last hours with?" he asked Hermione, who thought it over for a while.  
  
"You guys and Terry. Harry?"  
  
"You guys. Nora?"  
  
"You four, of course. Draco?"  
  
"Same. Now, who in here thinks Voldemort is really, really ugly?" he asked in a low voice, a look of disgust on his face. The others laughed before raising their hands in the air.  
  
"Did you see those red eyes?" asked Ron.  
  
"Or that nose," added Harry.  
  
"His whole face is just completely hideous," said Hermione.  
  
"I never knew someone could actually be so revolting," said Nora thoughtfully.  
  
"Yes, yes," Ron said impatiently. "I've never done karaoke." The others looked at him in confusion until Hermione and Nora slowly raised their hands. "Right, now when was that?" asked Ron interestedly.  
  
"I bet you're just dying for a chance to make fun of us about that since you found out about it, aren't you?" said Hermione. Ron nodded his head vigorously.  
  
The five of them continued talking, sitting in a circle on the ground, and slowly time passed in the cold, damp and smelly, due to the puddles of vomit still lying on the ground, dungeon. It was almost impossible to think that these five. . . well, you could hardly call them children, were managing to still get in a few laughs as their final hours came ever closer.  
  
It was just past six o'clock when the Dungeon door was slammed open and Harry and Ron, their backs facing the entrance, spun their heads around to see who had entered. Voldemort stood there, glowering down on them. Death Eaters could be seen standing in the hall outside, in case they ever tried to escape.  
  
"I have come to bring you your final meal," Voldemort told them. "Now, sometimes hostages are allowed to choose what their final meal contains but since I am neither in the mood nor patient enough to list all of your wishes, you will have to do with what is served." Voldemort waved his wand lazily and a tray of food appeared on the floor, in the middle of the five's circle. Voldemort then turned around, his cloak fluttering behind him, and exited the dungeon again, locking the door. The five were silent for a while and looked at the food, which could be poisoned.  
  
"I'll risk it," said Ron after a while. "We're going to die in six hours anyway." When he did not drop dead after swallowing the bite of chicken, the others took a few careful bites as well. Unlike what they had expected, the food wasn't half bad, but there was room for improvement.  
  
"I can guess what Ron is going to miss when we're all dead," muttered Hermione darkly. Ron just shrugged.  
  
"We can all guess what you're going to miss. I doubt they have libraries up there," he retorted.  
  
"All right, let's not begin fighting again, ok? It'd be a shame spending our last hours filled with hate," said Harry. Hermione and Ron looked down in shame, before nodding their agreement not to bicker.  
  
The food Voldemort had conjured was completely gone half an hour later and the five sat gloomily in a circle, the happy moods that had filled them earlier gone. They all seemed to be thinking of what they could do to pass time but nothing entered their heads except the horrible fate that awaited the world when the only ones who could save them were gone.  
  
"I wonder if my mum's been informed yet," thought Ron out loud. "I bet you could hear her wailing all the way here."  
  
"My parents would probably just mourn a bit and then move on, for Lily," said Nora gloomily.  
  
"I have no parents, so no mourning for me," Harry told them.  
  
"A-hem," said Ron, hands in his hips. "What about mine?" Harry slapped himself on the forehead.  
  
"How could I forget? Well, lots of mourning for me, then."  
  
"My mum would probably die," said Draco. He went on when the others frowned at him. "She's already lost my father and sister to Voldemort."  
  
"I guess my father would lock himself up forever," Hermione said.  
  
More time passed slowly as they spent it in silence. There were no windows in the dungeon, which was rather small, but because it was of a weak build, they could tell it was stormy weather for they heard the wind howling and the rain hitting the walls hardly. It turned colder as the sun slowly set and there was a small draft as well. It was nearing 8 o'clock when Hermione was struck by the brilliant ideas only she could have.  
  
"We should use the Amulet to escape," she stated bluntly.  
  
"Excuse me?" asked Ron sleepily, watching her with a puzzled expression on his face.  
  
"The Amulet of Era's," Hermione said impatiently. "We should use it to escape. I mean, it's really powerful, which is why Voldemort wants it so badly, so it can probably help us escape, if we know how to."  
  
"She's got a point," agreed Nora.  
  
"But how do we know how to use it?" asked Harry. "I mean, if we try something, that thing could send us into the future, or the past."  
  
"Good," said Ron. "Maybe that way we can stop the snaky git from becoming so evil and powerful."  
  
"No, Ron," said Hermione seriously. "We can't go into the past and change it, because only the slightest alteration can amend the present as we know it now. I mean, we might not even be born if anything goes different."  
  
"Oh," said Ron rather stupidly.  
  
"But how do we try stuff without sending us into a different time?" asked Draco.  
  
"I don't know," said Hermione, slightly exhausted.  
  
"First you could try holding the Amulet and wishing us out of here," suggested Harry. Hermione shrugged, held the Amulet in her hand, immediately regaining strength in the process, and closed her eyes, desperately wishing them out of this morbid situation. But nothing happened and she looked around the small group for more suggestions.  
  
"You could try wishing it out loud," implied Ron. Hermione did, but still nothing happened, and she felt rather ridiculous.  
  
"How about demanding it to bring us somewhere safe?" recommended Nora, actually just wanting to see her friend making a fool out of herself. Demanding did not work, either, though.  
  
"Maybe you should ask it nicely," said Draco and Hermione was about to when she glared at him.  
  
"Be serious!" she exclaimed, wishing she had a pillow, or something a bit harder, like a brick, to chuck at him. Draco grinned. "Come on you guys, I really want to get out of here," Hermione begged.  
  
"So do we, but if we don't know how to, there's not much we can do, can we?" said Harry. Hermione shook her head and sighed.  
  
"You know," said Ron quietly. "I don't want to get out of here to survive, I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm terrified of dying so soon, but I'd rather save all of those innocent people and be murdered, than saving my own neck and watching Voldemort destroy them all." There was a strained silence for a moment until the cord around Hermione's neck broke and her Amulet fell in the middle of their circle. Before they had time to react, though, a bright, white light shot through the dungeon and an elderly wizard, no taller or skinnier than Dumbledore arose from the now swirling colors of black, blue, purple and green. The five scrambled backwards and Draco wrapped his arms protectively around Nora.  
  
When the light faded away the man picked the Amulet up and inspected it, a slight smile on his aged and wrinkled face. He then inspected the students sitting on the floor, all gazing frightened up at him.  
  
"Merlin," whispered Ron, gazing at the Amulet in the man's hands and then at the man, wondering how on earth he had gotten out of there.  
  
"Quite right," the old man said.  
  
"Excuse me?" said Harry, confused.  
  
"I said: Quite right," repeated the wizened man, magically fixing the cord that had snapped.  
  
"Why?" asked Nora. "Why is he quite right?" The man looked at her in disbelief, before speaking again.  
  
"I am Merlin."  
  
. . .  
  
The silence that followed was as loud as silence could be. In the dungeon everyone was completely quiet, staring at the old man as if he was mad, which he probably was, but outside the Death Eaters could be heard holding noisy conversations and the rain pounded loudly on the walls as the wind howled eerily as if someone was constantly being tortured by the Cruciatus Curse.  
  
"But you're dead," spluttered Hermione after a while. Merlin turned to her, smiling, something that did not suit him well, and walked over to her. She whimpered but stopped when he held out the hand that contained her Amulet. Hermione took it and tied it around her neck.  
  
"I would say you are the brightest here. It radiates off of you, I can feel it," Merlin said before answering her question. "Yes, I passed away many centuries ago, but that does not mean my spirit does not wander around."  
  
"But your solid," argued Hermione, clearly forgetting she was talking to someone both very respected and dead.  
  
"Yes, I am. Upon passing through my very own Amulet of Eras, which I am glad has fallen into the right hands, I returned to my old body," replied Merlin, not at all bothered by Hermione's straightforwardness.  
  
"And why or how did you pass through it?" she asked interestedly. Merlin gave her another smile at this.  
  
"My dear Hermione, not all happens for a cause, something you still need to discover. . . but I believe I was called?" he asked, gazing at the five, all of whom shrugged. "And I believe it was Ron who nearly screamed for a little outside help with his brave words. Exactly why you were sorted into Gryffindor." Ron smiled proudly.  
  
"How do you know our names?" asked Hermione.  
  
"I know everything," came Merlin's simple reply. "I see some of you had a little nausea?" he added, looking at the, now dried up puddles of vomit still lying on the ground. Hermione, Nora and Ron blushed a little. "Now, you want to escape Voldemort, I presume?" The five nodded and Merlin smiled proudly upon them all before gazing rather hatefully at Draco. "A Malfoy. . . how did he get in between this?" Draco seemed at a loss for words and coward underneath Merlin's glare.  
  
"He's with us," said Nora at once. "And he's not at all like his father. . . but I thought you knew everything?" she asked, one eyebrow raised. Merlin smiled at this.  
  
"I admit, I know not all, but most of it, I do. Now, you five wish to escape from my castle and battle the Second War to save the innocent, do you not?" The five nodded eagerly. Maybe they weren't doomed at all. Maybe they had a chance of escaping at last!  
  
"Yes, but there are Death Eaters guarding this dungeon and I'll bet anything there are more walking around the castle and Voldemort will know if we escape," said Harry uncertainly. Merlin raised a finger and waved it slightly.  
  
"Ah, yes. But I will be here to guide you," he told them, grinning slyly. "I will take care of the Death Eaters and possibly Voldemort, but you have to find your way out of the castle yourself, for I cannot stay in my ancient body longer than a small couple of hours. When you are out of this castle, immediately Apparate to Hatsrowg, for Dumbledore will be concerned about your well-being, and give him my kind regards." The others wondered how he knew their headmaster, since there was a rather large time space between them, but they did not ask and instead nodded obediently, butterflies fluttering once again more than nervously in their stomach.  
  
"Is this castle large and, perhaps, dangerous, Merlin?" asked Harry, feeling he'd rather know before hand if they were doomed to wander around for eternity or able meet a fatal death behind any door. Merlin turned to look at him.  
  
"Alas, this castle is oversize and filled with dangers you know not of, but if luck, and my Amulet, are with you, the path will easy and you shall have little trouble finding your way out," he told them before wishing them immense luck and blowing the door in front of them away by magic. Instantly Death Eaters ran inside but they stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the ancient man in there with them. Merlin did not explain his presence but gave a small flick with both hands and the two Death Eaters flew into the air with such force that they crashed painfully into the not so sturdy walls, which shook threateningly. The five students looked in aw.  
  
"I will hurry through my castle and rid it of the pests that have settled in. You five will have to find your way on your own, but if trouble is deep, call me with the Amulet and I shall help." Merlin strode away in quick strides, the five taking the same route, but slower and more careful. For the first few corridors they saw nothing else, but when they turned a right, two more Death Eaters lay unconscious on the blood red carpet. They carefully stepped over them and continued their slow escape, still dazzled on how sudden help had come.  
  
The castle, clammy and cold as the dungeon, was completely dark since there were no candles, neither on the wall nor in midair, to light it and sight was only minimum because of the small rays of moonlight that were able to break through the with dust covered windows. Occasionally they would trip over something lying on the ground, but they did not look closer to see what it was, in case a dead rat, or even worse, lay there.  
  
Whenever any suspicious sounds were heard, the five all raised their wand hands, only to realize seconds later that it contained no wand and they were forced to peer into the looming darkness for anything odd or dangerous. This was definitely not the way they liked to do things, but they were left no choice but to use the old Muggle ways of wandering around ghostly castles that would be their death.  
  
"What now?" asked Harry when they reached a dead end, which Ron walked into first before confirming their suspicions that there was a wall blocking their path. "Should we risk opening any doors?"  
  
"I think we should, maybe it contains a shortcut, and you heard what Merlin told us," said Draco while Ron carefully rubbed his now somewhat painful forehead. "If we're lucky and have the Amulet, we'll be protected from the dangers."  
  
"I doubt luck has been with us so far," muttered Harry in reply, insinuating Voldemort's murders, as Hermione walked over to the nearest door on the right and opened it. She peered inside but, without any light, could not see anything.  
  
"If only I had my wand!" she muttered furiously, slamming the door shut behind her. Immediately there was a loud grunt and a howl from behind it and they backed away from the room in shock.  
  
"Great," said Ron. "Waking up whatever it is behind there so it can crash through the door and eat us all!" But there were no sounds telling them something was trying to break out and all they could hear when they walked back out of the corridor was the constant howling. It went well after that. They entered different corridors and none of them contained doors or dead ends, so they walked straight on before realizing they had already passed that round-shaped, grubby window with the cross drawn in the dust.  
  
"God damn it!" cried Nora in frustration as they backtracked a couple of corridors and then chose the third, and last corridor, from the three available. The other two they had already tried. But the third corridor contained only one door at the end of it and they did not trust the scraping sounds coming from behind it, so the five retraced their steps even more until arriving at the statue of a mighty, but sleeping, dragon again.  
  
"Secret passage way?" suggested Harry.  
  
"Secret password," reminded Draco. Harry frowned.  
  
"We could always guess," he then said.  
  
"Dragon," said Ron promptly, but nothing happened. Hermione looked as if he had given her an idea.  
  
"Draco," she said smiling.  
  
"Yes?" Draco asked but Hermione shook her head, pointing at the statue. The dragon had gotten up. It shook his head sleepily and roared ferociously before lying down to sleep again. Somewhere around them a loud rumbling noise erupted and the five students looked around to see if a secret passageway had appeared, but none had.  
  
"What about in the other corridors?" asked Nora. "Maybe the rumbling came from one of them." They walked away from the now soundlessly sleeping dragon and split up to walk into the other corridors.  
  
"Over here!" shouted Harry relieved. The round, filthy window with the cross drawn in its dirt had opened up to reveal a large corridor, which did not seem as grubby as the others, but in the darkness, there were no windows at all, it was hard to tell. The other four hurried over to him and together they stepped into the other corridor, feeling they were nearing the exit. Strangely enough, they did not come across any other unconscious Death Eaters.  
  
Again, for a while, they crossed nothing but vacant, drafty corridors and hope was beginning to grow faint once more. Minutes flew by as they wandered through the large castle, clinging closely together, not stumbling upon any other Death Eaters, which worried them somewhat. When Harry looked at his watch again, to see how long they'd been walking, it was almost 12 o'clock and a feeling of panic settled in his stomach. Voldemort would enter the dungeon any moment now to find they'd escape. . . and if he found them they'd surely be dead, since they were completely defenseless without their wands.  
  
"We should hurry up," said Hermione, thinking along the same lines. The others nodded and they quickened their pace, reaching yet another dead end. Without even discussing it with the others they all walked up to a different door and opened it, peering carefully inside, ready to pull their heads back and slamming the door shut if something decided to have them for a midnight snack. All five sighed and closed the door of the room they'd been inspecting, looking hopelessly at each other. But there was one door they had not opened and so, hopes high, they walked over to it.  
  
"Ouch!" muttered Harry and Draco together as one slapped a hand on his scar and the other on his Dark Mark.  
  
"We really should hurry," said Harry, sounding more frightened that before. "Voldemort's furious, which means he's seen the empty dungeon by now." The others nodded and Ron pulled the door open before walking into the room, not even checking to see if it was dangerous or not. Luckily there was no murderous beast in there, but only another door, which they immediately walked through, finding themselves in another large corridor. They were definitely on the right track now and hurried through more corridors, and down the first staircase they could find. After all, when being chased, never go up, always down; there was no escaping if you end up on the roof of a 20-story building.  
  
"In here," said Harry, making a sudden left. The more complicated the route they took was, the harder it'd be for Voldemort to find them. It seemed ages until they found another staircase and when they finally finished clambering down it, a couple of stories, thank Merlin, it was already one thirty a.m. and they were feeling quite frustrated.  
  
"You may have delayed your deaths for an hour or so, but that is the longest," came a high-pitched voice from behind them when they ran into an enormous hall. The five of them spun around simultaneously and stared Voldemort in the eyes.  
  
"Says who?" asked Harry stupidly, not being able to come up with a better retort.  
  
"Me!" snapped Voldemort icily. "Avada Kedavra!" The five stood stupidly huddled together, arms limply by their sides, and if they still had had their wands, they would've been too slow to save themselves. But the Amulet was there and it cast a protective shield around them, the Unforgivable rebounding off of it, straight towards the ceiling, which, being very ancient, gave way and collapsed in between the two different sides.  
  
"Let's go!" ordered Harry and he ran out of the hall, the others right at his heels. Voldemort's furious screeches could still be heard when they rounded the corner and entered what simply had to be the entrance to this horrible castle. They stormed through the double doors and, with a feeling of relief, found themselves in a beautiful garden with the largest fountain in the middle they had ever seen. The beauty of the outside was simply breathtaking after having been stuck in the olden castle for so long, but even though they had freedom again, they did not Disapparate, since their wands were still with Voldemort.  
  
It was chilly outside and there was a strong breeze of cold wind along with threatening sounds of thunder overhead, coming from the cloudy, overcast sky. A few raindrops fell here and there, but the rainstorm would be held until later on that night, or very early morning.  
  
"I am glad to see you have made it," said Merlin, appearing in front of them, but he seemed older, grayer and less powerful than before. His voice trembled with every word and his appearance was vaguer than they remembered it to be. He gave a wave with his hand, though not the same fluid motion like earlier, but five wands appeared floating in mid air none the less and their owners ran forward and grabbed them, thanking Merlin.  
  
"We made it," said Hermione softly. Merlin nodded, fading away very slowly.  
  
"I stayed many hours, longer than predicted, and my final minutes are drawing to a close. You will be able to call me when I have regained the greater part of my energy again, but it will take time," he told them, becoming more and more vague. "Apparate immediately to Hatsrowg and give Dumbledore my kind regards and, remember, when you five touch the Amulet simultaneously, you w. . ." but he faded away into nothingness and so did his voice and his last words could not be heard as they stared at the spot in front of the fountain where he had stood moments before.  
  
"What happens when we touch it at the same time, do you think?" whispered Nora, holding on tightly to Draco's hand. The others shrugged.  
  
"Let's go, I bet Dumbledore is dead worried about us," said Ron. The others nodded and together the five Disapparated without giving their surroundings a second glance, and if only they had looked back, they would have seen it.  
  
A/N: All right, I was going to leave you guys here, but since most of you hate cliffhangers, I'm just pausing for the 'effect'. Besides, the continuance after this cliffhanger is really lousy and it'd be stupid to begin another chapter with it. . .  
  
The five all appeared in the meadow in front of the castle of Hatsrowg, scattered over the large field; landing accurately was harder when traveling long distance. It was after they had all orientated to their surroundings again, that they saw a jet of green light streaking straight towards Ron, who looked at it in surprise and wonder; had it Apparated with them? Draco was the only one who was not rooted to the spot in shock and he quickly Disapparated and Apparated beside Ron, before Disapparating yet again, taking Ron with him, only a millisecond before the Avada Kedavra curse streaked through the spot where they had just been and, not being held up by anyone anymore, it shot towards the forest and hit a tree, which burst into flames, lighting the pitch-black and stormy night. Hermione quickly extinguished it with her wand while Ron would not stop stammering his thanks to Draco, whom he would be less hostile to in the future.  
  
"Are you all right?" asked Nora when she and Harry had Apparated over to Ron and Draco.  
  
"Yeah, fine," panted Ron, who was trying to stop his heart from beating so rapidly.  
  
"Did anyone notice we took that killing curse with us when we Apparated here?" questioned Harry, looking around the group as Hermione Apparated over as well, having fully extinguished the tree, which was now partly scorched.  
  
"Well, it must have been dead close if it Apparated with us, and it's really lucky we Disapparated when we did, or one of us would've been dead," said Hermione, before adding thoughtfully, "and we're all very lucky it's harder to Apparate accurately over a long distance, because otherwise we'd still have been huddled together with that curse and then it'd have been impossible to escape and one of us would've been dead as well." They stood in silence for a few moments as the thunderous sky continued to rumble noisily.  
  
"So what happens now?" asked Draco loudly over a crash of thunder. He was still rather pale in the face out of shock and his heart wouldn't quit hammering inside his chest anytime soon.  
  
"We all go inside and wait for Voldemort to return," said Dumbledore softly from behind them, smiling proudly. "I daresay you could all use a healthy bite to eat and a good night's sleep." He Disapparated and the five felt themselves pulled along with him, into the Dining Room, where they were all forced to eat before being pushed into bed by professor McGonagall who would not stop telling them how worried she had been and how they should quit breaking the rules for once, because it'll only get them into an even bigger mess.  
  
The five were extremely relieved when she finally left and they bade each other goodnight, feeling completely exhausted, before entering their own rooms, except Draco, who slept in Nora's bed.  
  
A/N: Yay, another chapter done! Now, this was almost completely done a lot earlier, but I had gotten so busy that I couldn't finish it up until now, I really hope you guys don't mind, but I did say I'd be taking longer to write, because there's only 1 ½ weeks left until my end-of-term exams are here again and if I don't get good grades, I'll fail, and I don't wanna.  
I am proud to say that I am, slowly but surely, nearing my goal of an average of 2 reviews per chapter! =D Wonder if I make it by the end of this story, lol.  
  
Dumbeldave – I updated, though I know it wasn't that soon, sorry. Hope you had enough patience to wait this long, but this way you had time to rid your nose of the all the Pepsi that went through it, right? =D Oh, right, thanks for reading and reviewing!  
  
Athenakitty – In some cultures they do eat snake, but I don't think any of those live in England, or somewhere in that region. It was a good suggestion though, but Nagini may have a(n important) part later on, so I'll let her live for now. I guess this shows their plan failed miserably. Thanks for reading and reviewing!  
  
Skins Thunderbomb – It's ok if you haven't had that much time, as you have noticed, by the lack of me updating, neither have I! So we're even. And I was wondering, perhaps you have heard of an eatable substance called fruit? Maybe you should try eating that instead of chocolate. =P Glad to hear my story keeps getting better; it did suck in the beginning, didn't it? That's probably what scared most readers away, anywho, you already gave me great advice, even though you were low on inspiration. . . maybe you have some idea's on the more active part of the Second War, where they all fight? I do have something, but help couldn't hurt, right? Thanks for reading and reviewing! And for giving me some great idea's. 


	44. The Second War Part II

A/N: As usual, I'm so terribly sorry this took so long, but I got completely swamped with homework and studying for the upcoming end-of-term exams. I really hope you guys had the patience to wait this long, and I want to thank all of you who have held onto my story this long, but most of you have probably given up hope for my story and me long ago...  
  
Chapter 44: The Second War – Part II  
  
The five were woken by a high-pitched scream and when Harry, Ron and Hermione sprinted into Nora's room, where the noise had come from, to see what was wrong, they saw Professor McGonagall standing at the foot of the bed, hands on her hips and eyebrows knitted together to form one thin, but severe, line as she looked at Nora and Draco in both furiousness and disbelief.  
  
"Never -!" she began, but her rage had gone beyond words and she just spluttered incomplete sentences before pointing her wand at Draco and lifting him out of Nora's bed and to the other side of her room, while both he and Nora stared at their professor in exasperation. Ron thought the whole thing rather funny, but his grin quickly faded when McGonagall shot him a stern glance out of the corner of her eyes.  
  
"What is the meaning of this?" began Professor McGonagall, trying hard to keep her temper. Nora did not know how to explain this, nor did she want to. It felt like it was her father standing in front of her, and she knew he'd completely blow up if he ever found her in bed with a guy, let alone a Slytherin. But Draco did not know how to explain this to his professor either, and the two just looked helplessly at each other before Hermione spoke up, taking pity on them. She explained the situation to McGonagall, who did not seemed too relieved to hear the full story, in fact, she looked just as stern as before, as if she couldn't care less. Hermione gave up trying to reason with the furious woman, who was still keeping Draco in the corner of Nora's bedroom, and looked apologetically at her best friend, who was already glad Hermione had given it a shot.  
  
"Minerva, please keep it down, you'll wake the whole castle," said Dumbledore, poking his head inside the room, joining their small, but incredibly 'fun', party. "What's this?" he asked, the rest of his body entering the room as well. He looked curiously around, from Draco being kept miserably in on corner of the room, to Nora who sat furious on her bed, arms crossed, to professor McGonagall who seemed ready to murder any one who put one toe out of line.  
  
"Albus, thank Merlin you're here!" exclaimed McGonagall. "Perhaps you are able to reason with these children. I absolutely cannot tolerate... this!" She waved her arms at Nora and Draco in the same prudish and stiff way as if she had just walked in on them having sex, which they had not. Dumbledore gave both Nora and Draco rather stern looks before turning back to Professor McGonagall, who was now emitting huffing noises in outrage.  
  
"Minerva, I am sure this is all just a slight misunderstanding. It is not what you are perhaps assuming. Let us leave so they can get ready for breakfast and I will explain matters to you on the way downstairs," he told her. McGonagall looked as if she was fit to burst, but she remained in one piece and, before they knew it, her attitude changed completely and she snapped at them all to hurry up and get dressed so they can go downstairs for a good and healthy breakfast even sooner.  
  
"I wish she would quit acting like my mum," muttered Ron sourly after professor McGonagall had shut the door in a snappish kind of way, leaving them alone at last. Nora let herself plop down on her bed and she stared at her ceiling while saying:  
  
"I doubt I've ever been this embarrassed in my whole entire life. She probably thinks I'm a right slut now."  
  
"Don't be silly," argued Hermione while Draco, finally daring to come out of his corner, primly sat himself down on the edge of Nora's bed. "She knew you two were going out before this incident and I think she really overreacted. I mean, even Dumbledore knew this was going on."  
  
"Yeah, but Dumbledore knows everything," interrupted Harry. "So that's not really a big achievement."  
  
"I still wish she would quit acting so motherly," said Ron, not paying much attention to the conversation the others were holding.  
  
"Right. Let's hurry and get dressed before she comes storming up here again," said Harry, he and Ron already walking towards the door.  
  
"And if you two start fooling around again it'll be both of your heads," Hermione warned Nora and Draco, in a voice that could replace McGonagall's easily. Nora stuck her tongue out at her friend before chucking her pillow at her, but Hermione was quicker and there was only a soft thump as the pillow hit the closed door and slid onto the floor.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
The five quietly walked into the Dining Room fully dressed to find Dumbledore, McGonagall and, for some reason, Snape in deep conversation. Seeing their greasy haired potions master there in Harry's seat was not something they had expected and they all stopped dead in their tracks out of uneasiness. Dumbledore beckoned them over with a wave of his hand while he listened intently to McGonagall who was apparently trying to persuade the headmaster of something. Snape barely joined in on the conversation, though he did listen intently. The five took their seats, but since Snape had taken up one of them, McGonagall had conjured up her own chair, Nora was left to share a chair with someone else. She wanted to go sit on Draco's lap, but with McGonagall and Snape in the room, she thought it best if she took up half of Hermione's instead.  
  
"Help yourselves," said Dumbledore kindly, indicating towards the food that occupied the table. The five students piled some breakfast onto their plates and guessed, by the low whisper McGonagall was using, that the conversation was about them or about something they weren't allowed to hear, which made eavesdropping all the more attractive. But they restrained themselves and instead started up their own conversation about the events that happened in Merlin's castle yesterday. Butterflies of dread were rapidly beginning to form and multiply again.  
  
"I must get going again, Albus. The elves are bound to be in chaos without my supervision," said Snape scornfully, getting up abruptly and startling the five students in the process. Their Potions master exited the Dining Room and headed towards the kitchen leaving Dumbledore and McGonagall watching the five intently with worry in their eyes.  
  
"Er... yes?" asked Ron, slightly creeped out by the look McGonagall was giving him, which did not change after he spoke.  
  
"Nothing," said Dumbledore. "Nothing," he repeated airily. "Well, Minerva, we should be getting back to the Order, discuss the latest news. You five can find something to do until Voldemort arrives?" The five nodded and their Headmaster and Transfiguration teacher got up and made for the door.  
  
"Er, sir," called Harry. Dumbledore turned around as McGonagall entered the Entrance Hall. "Merlin said to give you his kind regards." Dumbledore nodded gravely and swept out of the Dining Room.  
  
"Not his usual cheery self, is he?" said Ron. The others shrugged, feeling Ron was right. Their Headmaster seemed to be filled with much more sorrow than usual and the looks he kept giving them, well, they seemed to be looks of disappointment. Perhaps he thought them foolish for making up such a plan that got them kidnapped and nearly had them killed?  
  
"Looks like we'll have another day of terrible weather," said Hermione, glancing out of the window, raindrops tapping against it and gliding downwards. A flash of lightning filled the Dining Room with eerily bright light, casting misshaped shadows around it, and not a second later a loud rumble of thunder was heard. "The storm seems to be coming closer, isn't it? Yesterday it was still a couple of miles away, now it seems to be right above this castle..." Hermione trailed off. She did not know why, but this storm made her feel gloomy and heartrending inside. The others seemed to feel the same way, for they said nothing and just gazed out of the window, watching drop after drop of rain falling from the dark amethyst sky, clouds shifting heavily around.  
  
"Wanna go explore the castle?" asked Ron unenthusiastically. Anything that took their minds off of the thunderstorm was fine by him. It felt as if the tempest was predicting the end of the Second War: horrible and boding evil.  
  
"Let's at least get out of this room," agreed Nora and they slowly made their way into the Entrance Hall. The portraits on the walls seemed to sense, or know, something was wrong for they were unnaturally hushed. Even the fighting couple that had once helped them find their way to their living room weren't bickering as usual, but just sat solemnly in their straight-backed wooden chairs.  
  
"You know, this castle just has to have a room where we can enjoy ourselves and not only ones where we get killed," said Draco confidently. Ron looked at him as if he were mad.  
  
"He's right," agreed Hermione. "I say we go find it." Ron looked at her as if she was mad too and did not think much of the idea, especially if they were to search the dangerous and instable castle again.  
  
"I don't want to," he argued childishly.  
  
"Oh, come on, Ron," said Nora exasperatedly, feeling rather worn out. "It's not like we have anything better to do and we'll just stay near the main staircase so we don't get lost, all right?" Ron shrugged and Hermione heaved a tetchy sigh, before they walked up the staircase together, trying hard not to pay any attention to the thunderstorm right above the castle.  
  
"Now what?" asked Ron when they reached the landing with their bedrooms.  
  
"Now we just look around," said Hermione plainly. The others followed her down the corridor with their rooms and entered the door at the end of it, giving the others the feeling she had already done some exploring on this floor without them.  
  
"Wow," stated Harry, looking around the room they had entered.  
  
"Yes, who could have guessed the first room we entered was everything we were searching for?" said Hermione, trying to look surprised like her friends.  
  
"You suck at acting," Nora told her as she passed her on the way to the middle of the extremely large and beautiful room. Hermione grinned and joined them all on the other side of the room by the window, which took up the entire outer wall. Though every other window they had looked out of in this castle faced the large meadow, this one faced a different side of the castle's grounds and showed them hundreds of flowerbeds, dozens of fountains, many trees of all sorts, uncommon and normal, and, what caught their attention in an instant, a large gold statue of the four Founders all together, beaming.  
  
But this was not the most peculiar thing. Also standing in the amazing garden, apparently at random, were silver statues, of fair size, of many important wizards that had lived so far. Dumbledore could be spotted in an instant, standing close to the Founders, as well as Merlin, who had been placed amongst black flowers. And, as they gazed at the entire garden in disbelief, their eyes fell upon a small group of statues that could represent none other than them. Harry stood proudly and courageously with his wand raised, a smile on his handsome face. Ron had been placed beside him, grinning. On the other side stood Hermione, wand in her hand as well, as she smiled wisely to the world. Nora and Draco stood beside her, holding hands and smiling blissfully at each other.  
  
Surrounding their statues were little fountains, shooting water jets straight into the air, and the most beautiful everlasting lilies, which seemed to bring tears into Harry's eyes. Hermione put a soothing hand on his shoulder and Harry sniffed, though he smiled at the statue of him, standing so proudly in between his best friends. If someone had told him about all of this 5 or 6 years ago, when his bedroom was still the cupboard under the stairs, he would have laughed out loud and called them insane. Now, though, if someone told him he did not have to fight in the Second War, that he did not have to kill Voldemort, well, he would not laugh, but he would call him or her insane, for nothing could be changed anymore. Fate was fate, even if it was forlorn.  
  
"I wonder who makes the statues and puts them there," said Nora thoughtfully, interrupting Harry's thoughts.  
  
"Maybe they just... appear, when a prophecy is made about someone," said Ron.  
  
"But then wouldn't there a lot more statues? And how would they know what we look like," argued Hermione.  
  
"Maybe statues are only made of those who are really important, which would be why Dumbledore and Merlin are there too," said Harry.  
  
"And maybe they appear at the time when the person, of whom a prophecy is made, has to fulfill it," suggested Draco, eyes wandering unwillingly upwards to the ominous sky.  
  
"Could be," said Nora. "But I still think it's creepy."  
  
"What kind of a room is this anyway?" asked Ron as he turned his back on the large window and looked at the area in front of him. There was the usual fire roaring in a large fireplace on one side of the room with sofa's and chairs in front of it but on the other side of the room, where they'd expected a vast bookcase, was a large television. They all stared at it in disbelief until Draco ran forward and jumped onto the sofa that stood before it, picking up the remote control with a boyish smile on his face.  
  
"Look!" he shouted happily, showing the remote control to Nora who smiled at the look on his face, for Draco looked like a 5 year old who had just received his favorite toy for Christmas. Ron and Harry sat down on the sofa as well and Draco turned the television on, eyes wide and shining in amazement. Hermione, instead, inspected the cloth that covered the entire wall behind the TV.  
  
"What is it?" asked Nora, joining her.  
  
"Some kind of a Family Tree," replied Hermione, scanning it for anyone familiar. "No one on here we know," she muttered after a while. "This is goes too far back and ends about a few centuries ago.  
  
"What's this? Where are the brooms?" asked Draco confused.  
  
"This is Muggle sport," replied Harry. "And it's boring. Change the channel." Nora walked over to see what they were watching, but there was nothing interesting, since at this time of the day there are usually only cartoons or infomercials.  
  
"This Tillievision isn't of good quality," stated Draco plainly, looking at Nora. "It doesn't have any good to watch. During the trip we always watched fun stuff." He pouted, causing Nora to chuckle.  
  
"Let's do something else," said Ron. "This is boring."  
  
"Like what?" asked Harry, switching the TV off.  
  
"Shouldn't we be on the look out for Voldemort?" questioned Hermione. Ron shrugged.  
  
"Why? I say we let him wait out there on his own for a while." Hermione rolled her eyes.  
  
"Let's go," she said wearily. The others followed her out of the newly discovered room and into the hall, wondering where she was taking them. Hermione led them into the Entrance Hall before caring to explain what they were going to do.  
  
"Well?" demanded Ron and the others, too, looked at her expectantly.  
  
"Well, I think we go into the dining room for lunch and then, when we're finished, we wait outside for Voldemort," Hermione told them weakly. "I mean, there's no sense in postponing the inevitable and we might as well get it over with sooner rather than later." The others shrugged and they slowly entered the dining room. As usual food appeared on the table the moment they sat down and they steadily ate their lunch amongst the rhythmic 'tap tap tap' of raindrops hitting the window and the occasional flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder.  
  
"So, who's ready to go and get killed?" asked Ron conversationally when they were all finished eating. Harry and Draco raised their hands proudly. Nora and Hermione paid no attention to them. Nora was too busy gazing out the window, wondering what would happen if she was out in the rain again, if she'd go all weird again, and Hermione was occupied in the farewell note she was writing to Terry.  
  
"What are you doing?" asked Ron interestedly, leaning forwards to read whatever it was Hermione was writing, but Hermione folded the parchment up, sealed it and put it in her pocket without answering Ron's question.  
  
"All right, so let's go," said Harry, though he would really rather stay here in the dining room, perhaps cowering under the table.  
  
"I think I'm going to be sick," said Nora. "I've never been this frightened in my entire life." The others murmured their agreement and Draco held her hand tightly in his, as if afraid he'd lose her if he loosened his grip.  
  
"Do you think Dumbledore knows we're going to wait on Voldemort?" asked Ron.  
  
"Dunno. Probably not," said Harry. "Let's go," he said again. The five of them slowly made their way into the Entrance Hall and hesitated by the front doors.  
  
"First let's touch the Amulet," said Hermione rather shakily. They all obeyed and when all of them had some extra strength Harry took a deep breath and opened the front doors before stepping outside in the chilly air, a strong wind nearly knocking him off his feet. He was joined by his friends and together, staying close beside each other, they walked to the middle of the meadow, the strong gust of wind blowing around them. It had stopped raining, thankfully, but the threat remained hanging above them in the sky. Voldemort was nowhere to be seen, but they still continued to walk to the spot where he had stood the day before.  
  
"I want to ask you guys a favor," said Hermione seriously when they had stopped. The others looked at her.  
  
"Anything," said Nora. Hermione smiled weakly and took out the sealed piece of parchment Ron had tried to read during lunch.  
  
"If I die and one of you lives, could you please give this to Terry for me? It's a goodbye letter." She was on the verge of tears after completing her sentence and the others nodded.  
  
"Of course we will, 'Mione," said Ron sincerely. "Anything for you." Hermione sniffed as she smiled at her friends.  
  
"How touching," came a malicious voice from behind them. The five spun around and stared straight into Voldemort's ugly face. "That Amulet may have helped you five escape me once, but it won't happen again." Harry couldn't believe his ears. Voldemort thought they escaped Merlin's Castle through the Amulet and not by Disapparating? What a moron. But this meant they could still use their plan of pretending not to be able to do anything. All he had to do was get this message across to his friends. Hermione, though, had already figured it out as well, which meant that the two of them had to tell the other three somehow.  
  
"How do you know?" asked Harry, trying to stall. "How do you know the Amulet won't help us again?"  
  
"Because I won't let it," spat Voldemort. "I will kill you five and Dumbledore right away before anything can thwart my plan. And it should be easy as well, since you five appear to know nothing about dueling or anything else that would be needed to survive this Second War. Now where is that Muggle-loving fool. It would be easier to just kill you all at once, rather than having to use one curse over and over again."  
  
"If you mean me, Tom, I am right here." Voldemort spun around and faced Dumbledore, who stood there looking ever so powerful.  
  
"Dumbledore, how nice of you to join us. Tell me, what's this shocking news I received yesterday? You had not told these children about their fate?" he asked gleefully. Dumbledore glanced at the five, who stood cowering behind Voldemort, before looking back at the snake-like wizard.  
  
"No, I did not," he said after a moment of silence. "I believed that if I could keep them in the castle for long enough you would not find them and give up. Another old man's mistake, I believe." Voldemort cackled; things could not have gone better.  
  
"I always knew you were a fool, Dumbledore, but nobody believed it. They thought you were the greatest wizard in the world and that you never a made a mistake, but now you have, perhaps, made the most fatal one of all."  
  
"The Second War is not over, Tom. Many things can still happen until it is." Voldemort did not reply with an answer, but instead sent a flash of green in Dumbledore's direction, who disappeared and reappeared on Voldemort's right, by the forest. The five stood helplessly rooted to the same spot, watching the duel between the two powerful wizards. Harry decided to use this time to tell Ron, Nora and Draco that they could still use the plan.  
  
"So we can still pretend not to know anything and use it to surprise them later on," he finished, Hermione nodding her agreement.  
  
"All right," said Ron and Nora and Draco consented. Dumbledore waved his wand in the air and then pointed it straight at Voldemort. The spell rushed past at amazing speed and sounded like an airliner before it hit the protective shield Voldemort had quickly set up. A loud gong-like note rang through the air, one that Harry recognized from the year before at the Ministry of Magic.  
  
"You still prefer not to use the Avada Kedavra curse, Dumbledore?" asked Voldemort, his shield vanishing.  
  
"I have already shared my view on this matter with you, Tom. But it appears that we are running into routine," replied Dumbledore, walking slowly nearer to Voldemort, who sent another killing curse at the man. Dumbledore Disapparated again and appeared behind Voldemort, who spun around. The five stood watching helplessly until Voldemort shouted something that they could not understand. It immediately turned cold while from all around them dark hooded figures appeared, their rattling breaths carried by the harsh wind.  
  
"Expecto Patronus!" shouted Harry immediately, pointing his wand at the nearest Dementors. His silvery stag formed out of it and charged at the dark creatures along with Draco's stallion, Nora's unicorn, Hermione's otter and Ron's fire-breathing salamander. The five students watched the progress as Dumbledore and Voldemort continued to battle.  
  
"Look," said Harry, smiling. The others followed his gaze and saw that about 10 more Dementors had Apparated in, meaning that the Metamorphmagus' had arrived. Harry saw one 'Dementor' wave at him and, waving back, he guessed it was Tonks.  
  
"Dumbledore, you will not survive this Second War!" spat Voldemort and he sent the curse Dumbledore had cast, back so fast at the old man that there was no time to deflect it or move out of its way. Dumbledore seemed shocked when the spell shot towards him and when he was hit, he looked sorrowfully at his five students before slowly vanishing.  
  
"Dumbledore!" yelled Harry, wanting to run forward and grab his headmaster, to pull him back into their world, but Draco restrained him.  
  
"Yes, it seems you five are all alone now," said Voldemort with enthusiasm, rounding on the students. "But you don't stand a chance against me!" he roared, his voice suddenly strong and not high-pitched at all. Hermione and Nora whimpered as Voldemort walked closer to them, the Dementors all closing in, though they were still held back by the Patronus'.  
  
"Unless I'm mistaken," said Harry coolly, looking around him. "There is one of you, and five of us." An evil grin spread over Voldemort's face.  
  
"Very good, Harry, you can count," he said with fake over enthusiasm. "But, and I was waiting to show them until after a while, but since Dumbledore left so soon, let me show you my Death Eaters." He put a long, pale finger on his own Dark Mark and instantly 100 Death Eaters seemed to Apparated in as Draco painfully put a hand on his own Dark Mark, wincing in pain. "Yes, it hurts, doesn't it, Draco?" said Voldemort softly. "But it is something you deserve for betraying me. CRUCIO!" Draco fell onto the floor screaming in pain, as Nora tried hard not to let any tears escape, but Draco's constant cries of utter pain were not making matters any easier. When Voldemort finally took the curse off Draco, he did not get up from the ground, but lay where he was, shivering in the aftermath of the Unforgivable. Nora let herself drop beside him and held him close to her, stroking his hair, and kissing his head.  
  
"Filthy mudblood! Get away from my son!" came Lucius Malfoy's angry yell. Nora looked up at the man who had run forward, anger and iciness in her eyes.  
  
"I think he'd rather be loved by me, than tortured by you," she said coolly. Draco did not dare look; this was exactly what he had feared after constantly having the same nightmare of her taunting Voldemort. Malfoy seemed speechless and Voldemort ordered him back into the circle they had formed around the five as Nora helped a shivering Draco back up to his feet.  
  
"Found true love, have you, now?" asked Voldemort icily, looking at the two holding hands. "Well, it'll pass, trust me-" He was about to continue when more people joined the 'party' and formed an larger outer circle around the five, Voldemort and his Death Eaters. The Dementors still in the most outer circle, kept away by the Patronus' of the five.  
  
"Where's Dumbledore?" demanded Kingsley Shacklebolt in his deep voice.  
  
"Oh, he's gone already," replied Voldemort happily. Harry could not really register what went on after that. All he remembered was two different shouts of 'Attack!' and then everyone had split up to battle each other and he and Draco were left standing in front of Voldemort in the meadow in front of the castle, which seemed darker for some reason, with translucent figures watching from behind the windows.  
  
The weather seemed to be getting worse as raindrops were beginning to fall again. There were loud rumblings heard coming from overhead only seconds after streaks of lightning flashed and lit the large crowd up, all battling in the meadow in front of the castle, which towered high and gloomily above them.  
  
Everyone seemed to be doing perfectly well without Dumbledore. All of the people from the Order and foreign organizations were intensely busy fighting Death Eaters, some shooting snide remarks at each other, some not, and some, like Kingsley Shacklebolt, Remus Lupin and Cleopatra, were taking on two or more Death Eaters at once. It felt to everyone as if time had slowed down, but instead it seemed to be going a bit faster than normally the case.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Ron had no time to feel scared as two Death Eaters advanced upon him. He did the first thing that came to his mind and that was Stupefy, which took care of one Death Eater. The other sent a spell at him so fast, though, that all Ron could do was jump out of the way, landing in a spectacular dive on the grass, which was rapidly becoming more wetter, and shooting the impedimenta jinx over his shoulder at his opponent. He wondered what had happened to Dumbledore and a part of him could not believe that the old man was really gone. After having done so many incredible things, his own curse finished his own life. It seemed rather ironical.  
  
"The poor weasel has grown up, has he?" asked Lucius Malfoy, walking towards Ron who struggled to get up. "Taking on two Death Eaters on his own. But then again, that might be the stupidity you seem to have a lot of."  
  
"Oh, very witty," said Ron, nodding. "Yes, yes. I can barely contain my laughter. Ha, ha, ha." The sarcasm just dripped off of every 'ha' he said and Malfoy frowned, clearly confused.  
  
"Do not mock me, Weasel, for it may be the last thing you do," he spat.  
  
"Yes, thanks for the warning. Now, if you don't mind, I've got to go. You see, there are more important Death Eaters I'd rather fight against," Ron told him, already searching for his next 'victim' and not paying much attention to Malfoy anymore, who seemed to be getting more and more confused by the second.  
  
"How dare you!" he shrieked. "Crucio!" Ron, having decided that if he Disapparated or cast a shield charm, it would be obvious they had had training, let himself get hit and fell screaming onto the wet ground, writhing with pain. It felt as if a hundred people were poking at him with white-hot cutlery and knew that death would be a lot better than this. When the Cruciatus curse was lifted Ron could hardly get up and when he did, he stood trembling on both of his feet, looking a laughing Malfoy in the eye.  
  
"Oh, that was fun," said Lucius, wiping a tear of laughter from his eye. "We should do it again soon."  
  
"I'm not scared of you," said Ron bravely, but because he was shaking quite violently, so did his voice and he sounded more frightened if anything.  
  
"Well, another lesson, perhaps?" asked Malfoy softly, his wand already pointing towards Ron's heart. Malfoy was about to open his mouth when a flash of red light came streaking from the right and hit him in the head, causing him to topple over, unconscious. Ron snapped his head to right and searched for the one who had saved his life. He saw a Dementor gliding eerily towards him and he was about to yell to his Patronus, which was still running around the Dementors, to attack it, when the Dementor waved at him. Ron frowned, his eyes wide in horror and confusion, before realizing it was probably Tonks. He waved back and gave her a smile and a thumbs up before turning around and walking slowly amongst the battling people, in search for either someone to save or someone to fight.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Hermione shot the Stupefy spell at her Death Eater, who dodged it and landed painfully on his side. Hermione got up from her lying position on the ground and had her wand pointed at the Death Eater, who turned out to be Avery.  
  
"You filthy little mudblood, you," he said maliciously. Hermione shrugged.  
  
"Yes?" she asked politely. "You called?"  
  
"You will never win this battle," he told her, recovery from his confusion quickly.  
  
"Not on my own, no, but that was never my plan in the first place."  
  
"You won't live to see your friends die, either," Avery continued, ignoring Hermione's vague reply. "I'll take care of that. Avada Kedavra!" Hermione moved quickly to the side and Avery's spell went past her and hit a tree, which cracked.  
  
"Oh, very original," she told him sarcastically. "And really unexpected, what with the warning before hand."  
  
"Shut up!" roared Avery, and he sent another killing curse her way, but in his fury he missed and hit the same tree as before, which wobbled unsteadily for a few seconds, but did not fall.  
  
"Patience, Avery. If you keep going like that, you'll never hit me again, and I don't think your pal Voldemort will be too happy about that, now will he?" asked Hermione. "Stupefy!" she yelled and a dazed Avery was hit in his stomach, causing him to fall over backwards. "One sucker down," muttered Hermione under her breath. "Petrificus Totalus!" she yelled when she saw a Death Eater sneaking up behind Ron, who was busy fighting some one else. He looked around when he heard a loud thump and gazed from the unconscious Death Eater on the floor behind him to Hermione who smiled, before indicating to his own Death Eater, who had now had time to shoot an unknown curse at Ron.  
  
"Ah, the brilliant little mudblood, isn't it?" asked a cruel female voice from behind her. "What a great pleasure it will be to kill you." Hermione spun around and looked straight into Bellatrix Lestranges eyes.  
  
"I've already gotten rid of enough Death Eaters, so don't bother," said Hermione coolly.  
  
"They are stupid idiots, -" began Bellatrix.  
  
"And so are you," finished Hermione. "How nice to know we're on the same level," she added happily.  
  
"You cannot infuriate me like the others, my dear child," said Bellatrix, smirking.  
  
"Oh, too bad then," Hermione told her simply.  
  
"Crucio!"  
  
"Protego!" Hermione sent the spell Bellatrix had cast back into her direction, but she jumped aside, and instead it hit the already twice stricken tree, which now gave a loud crack and slowly fell over. Birds flew out of the forest, twittering madly, and many people turned around to watch what had just happened. "Oops," said Hermione, shrugging.  
  
"Avada Kedavra!" Hermione quickly dodged to the side, feeling immensely glad they had all of those irritating training sessions on their brooms in the Quidditch Pitch.  
  
"Impedimenta!" she shouted but Bellatrix Disapparated and reappeared behind Hermione, who quickly spun around, wand pointed in front of her.  
  
"Neat trick, huh?" asked Bellatrix, smirking at Hermione.  
  
"But you can't Apparate into or out of these grounds," said Hermione, pretending to be confused. Bellatrix laughed. A high cackle, usually used for those Muggle cartoon witches with warts on their long and ugly noses.  
  
"This isn't Apparation, silly little girl," she said, after disappearing and reappearing beside Hermione, who spun around again. "This is a form of Apparation, something you will never learn. Avada Kedavra!" Hermione had the strong urge to show her that she had already learned the form of Apparation but instead, sticking to the plan, she flung herself to the side, landing painfully on her side in the mud, splattering her clothes and face.  
  
"Oof," she grunted, getting up, not bothering to brush herself off.  
  
"Yes, it'd be lots better if you knew it as well. I daresay you're clothes are getting dirty," said Bellatrix, giving another smirk. Hermione shot another spell at her, but Bellatrix just Disapparated, reappearing somewhere else. It was completely impossible for Hermione to hit her with a curse and was beginning to get desperate until Emmeline Vance, a member of the Order of the Phoenix, sent a curse at Bellatrix, knocking her unconscious and tying her up at the same time. Hermione gave her a grateful smile and sighed in relief, wondering when this feeling of burden would lift, and if it ever would.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
It was obvious to see that Nora was having more trouble battling Death Eaters than Hermione or Ron. Her eyes kept shooting quick, but worried, glances in Draco's direction to see if he was still alive, and whenever a deadly curse was sent in his direction it felt, for some reason, as if her heart was being smashed to pieces.  
  
Currently Nora was fighting against a rather poor excuse for a Death Eater; he hardly shot any Unforgivables in her direction, he didn't make any mean retorts or tried to make small talk at all, and he was a very poor fighter. The few curses Nora sent at him, he dodged with extreme difficulty and he took his time shooting spells at her, giving her enough time to get ready to escape them. Voldemort seemed to have chosen just anyone as Death Eater, in his hurry to get a large number as soon as possible. But maybe it was better if the Death Eater couldn't fight, because Nora wasn't doing too well, either. She was fortunately helped out, though, by the only woman to have survived a Death Eaters' raid in her village somewhere in Africa. While keeping an eye on her own Death Eater, she cast a spell on Nora's Death Eater that tied him up with invisible rope. Nora thanked her and was immediately confronted with yet another Death Eater, Antonin Dolohov. He had pulled off his Death Eaters mask and she recognized his long, pale and twisted face from last year in the Ministry and from the Daily Prophet; he had once murdered the Prewetts.  
  
"You're mine to kill," he spat. Nora was taken aback for a moment, where on earth had he come from? But she decided not to dwell on it, because he was already sending deathly, and unpleasant sounding, curses her way, which she quickly dodged. It wasn't until one Avada Kedavra curse streaked only millimeters from her head, that she decided to stop worrying about Draco, he was doing completely fine on his own, and focus more on trying to knock some Death Eaters out. This had sounded fairly simple in her head, but Dolohov seemed to be far more advanced than the previous Death Eater she had battled and unless she got him out of the way first, she wouldn't be able to fight any others as well.  
  
"Have you had training?" asked Dolohov suspiciously when Nora flung herself out of harms way, landing a few feet to the right.  
  
"No, you just really, really suck," she replied coolly, getting up and pointing her wand at him again.  
  
"Now, that is no way to speak to someone so much higher above you, a place you'll never reach, lewd little mudblood. Crucio!" Nora had no choice but to stay put and let herself get hit, since Disapparation and dodging yet another curse would verify Dolohov's suspicions about her having been trained. She waited filled with dread for the curse to hit her and when it finally did, for time seemed to have slowed down all of a sudden, it was so much worse than she had expected. Lying on the muddy ground, large, thick raindrops falling from the dark sky, it felt as if all sharp, pointy things had just been heated to 1000 degrees and stabbed into her skin, over and over again. Nora could not help but shriek in pure agony as she writhed in the mud, tears rolling down her face, finding it hard to breathe.  
  
Someone must have attacked Dolohov because when the curse was lifted and Nora looked with difficulty around to see where he was, he was lying a few feet away, shooting curses at Lupin, who Disapparated and reappeared a good distance away and immediately being confronted by two other Death Eaters. Nora got up, still shaking from the curse, and tried to hold her wand still in front of her.  
  
"Yes, that hurt, didn't it?" asked Dolohov, smiling evilly. "But filthy, dimwitted mudbloods like you have to learn some manners." Nora said nothing. Her mind was more focused on her trying to hold her wand steady and being prepared to avoid another curse, especially the Cruciatus, because there was no way she ever wanted to feel that pain, ever again.  
  
Nora could sense a pair of eyes boring into her, but she knew it wasn't Dolohov. It was Draco, yet she didn't dare look at him. She felt too embarrassed for screaming so loudly, which was probably what had got his attention in the first place. Nora continued to glare at Dolohov through the sheets of rain that just kept pouring from the sky. Everyone was completely soaked through and it would've have been rather chilly, with the cold wind, especially, if they had not all been battling so forcefully and filled with adrenaline.  
  
"What's the matter? Too scared to speak?" asked Dolohov. Nora shrugged, not really paying attention. Why was she the only one not able to fight properly? None of the others were having as much trouble as she was. "Well, this is no fun. Avada Kedavra," Dolohov said lamely, casually pointing his wand at Nora, who ducked and felt the curse streaking past above her. Dolohov seemed to be thinking as he watched her get up again. "Well, if the usual curses don't work, then how about this one?" But when he opened his mouth to speak he was hit with a silencing charm and Hermione positioned herself squarely beside the still trembling Nora. Dolohov proved his far being advanced by making a motion as if sweeping something off of a table and instantly the two girls were knocked off of their feet and they flew a couple of feet through the air, before landing with a squelching noise in a mud pool, splattering sludge everywhere and on those nearest to them, who either didn't notice or didn't bother to care.  
  
Dolohov walked over to the two girls and rounded on Hermione, who was already struggling to get up. He made the same sudden slashing movement with his wand as he had done a year previously in the Ministry of Magic and a streak of, this time, blue flames shot across Hermione's chest. Nora thought she saw Hermione give her an Oh-bloody-hell-not-again look but when she looked properly her best friend had crumpled on to the floor and she was left staring into the eerily piercing eyes of Dolohov who grinned and stood right in front of her.  
  
Nora did not even try to get up; she was still trembling in the aftermath of the Cruciatus Curse and felt as if she could not move. Disapparating did not occur to her when Dolohov made the same sudden slashing movement and a streak of purple flame passed across Nora's chest. It did not even hurt, just a weird sensation from where the flames were, but she was afraid of what would happen, now that two of the five were already down. She shot one last glance at Draco before crumpling on to the floor as well, right beside Hermione.  
  
It was then that one of the Order members, Hestia Jones, Apparated in front of Dolohov and yelled: "Petrificus Totalus!" Dolohov went completely rigid and he fell face forward in the mud as it began to pour even heavier. Hestia Jones muttered darkly as she looked at the unconscious Hermione and Nora.  
  
"Damn Lucius Malfoy," she said, looking at the large battling group around her in disappointment. "If that snooty git hadn't held me up so long I'd have gotten here earlier." She heaved an irritable sigh and waved her wand, sending the Death Eater that had tried to sneak up behind her into the air.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Harry and Draco stood facing Voldemort in the midst of the battling group. Shouts and screams could be heard from all around them and sometimes he would see someone fly by as a particular jinx hit them. He looked around and spotted Ron fending off a big-boned, female Death Eater, who was doing rather poorly. He glanced at his watch as Voldemort shouted an insult at Draco and Harry saw that it was already 7 o'clock. Time seemed to go exceptionally fast. He glanced around again, but Nora and Hermione were nowhere to be seen. There was a feeling of dread in his stomach and he tried to calm himself by saying they were just fighting Death Eaters in the outer ring. Draco seemed to have noticed as well, because he frantically scanned the area, his vision obstructed by the heavy downpour.  
  
Voldemort took advantage of their lack of attentiveness and yelled "Avada Kedavra!" while pointing at Harry, who reacted to late to dodge out of the way. But his life was saved when someone jumped in front of him, taking the hit as if they were in a movie. The short, rather pudgy person fell with a loud thump on the ground and lay motionless. Voldemort gave a frustrated shriek in fury and Harry took this chance to see who had saved his life. He was thinking of all sorts of noble things he'd do for that person's family when he saw to his confusion, shock and horror that the man lying dead at his feet was none other than Peter Pettigrew, the one who had killed his parents, and therefore ruined his entire life.  
  
"That filthy piece of scum!" screamed Voldemort. "TRAITOR!" he bellowed at the sky, as if Wormtail was somewhere up there, floating towards heaven.  
  
"Yes, that certainly backfired, didn't it?" asked Draco, smirking at the raging man in front of him and Harry, who was tuning back into the battle.  
  
"Shut up!" screamed an infuriated Voldemort and he made a sweeping movement with his hand and Draco flew backwards landing painfully on his shoulder meters away in a pool of mud. He sat up, spluttering, and grabbed his shoulder, which hurt immensely. "Now to deal with you," said Voldemort menacingly, smiling hungrily at Harry who glared back, almost shaking with anger.  
  
"Stupefy!" he yelled. Voldemort Disapparated and appeared on Harry's left. "Tarantallegra!" Voldemort disappeared again and reappeared behind Harry, who spun around to see a jet of green light hurtling towards him, but a second later it had slowed down and it looked as if it was hardly moving at all and Harry saw Draco standing where he had been thrown, his wand still pointed at the curse. Harry knew what to do now.  
  
"Replacio!" he yelled, pointing his wand forcefully at Voldemort. Instantly the two of them switched places and Harry quickly cast a jinx on the curse Draco had slowed down, that made it speed up. Voldemort seemed stunned as he was now on the receiving end of it and Harry wondered why he did not move.  
  
"YOU!" shrieked Voldemort looking at something standing by the forest. Harry followed his gaze and to his amazement saw Dumbledore standing there, practically radiating with power, pointing his wand at Voldemort and keeping him in his place. Harry smiled and looked back at Voldemort to see him getting hit by his own curse and giving one last shriek before he exploded. Harry stood frozen to the spot as he saw the force of the explosion rushing straight towards him.  
  
Everyone stopped in battle upon hearing Voldemort's shriek. They saw the Boy-Who-Lived triumph over him once more, and for the last time, and witnessed the explosion before many used the form of Disapparation as the force of the explosion spread out. All of those who were knocked out and lying unconscious on the floor were thrown into the air by the energy of the blast and some just landed far away onto the wet and muddy ground while others crashed into the castle and slid down it's walls onto the earth. Hermione and Nora were smashed high into the castle and they fell swiftly down onto the ground with loud thumps. Ron had Disapparated into the castle, taking cover, while Draco, who could not muster the strength to move out of the way, was flung backwards in the direction of the Quidditch Pitch, landing painfully on his already broken shoulder. Harry, having been closest to Voldemort, was pitched high into the air and collided roughly against a tree, which cracked and fell over with a loud rumble.  
  
The weather, already at a horrible stage, grew even worse and streaks of lightning lit up the bloody and muddy battlefield, where unconscious and dead people lay as immensely loud rumbles of thunder filled the air, as if mourning for the loss of those who had died. Dumbledore now stood in the middle of the meadow and he watched with sadness. He watched as a pitch- black substance floated high into the sky, from the place where Voldemort had been. Dumbledore saw it float away and he knew that there was another heir of Salazar Slytherin out there, soon to be possessed by that unknown evil that had dominated Salazar Slytherin himself and therefore causing him to kill three of his best friends.  
  
Voldemort was defeated in the end, but too many innocent people had paid with their lives and it could not happen again. But it would. This was certain. However, the Second War was finally over and Dumbledore hoped that the five were still alive. The bravest teenagers in the world had to be alive. It would not be victory without them there. But as Dumbledore stood beside Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, he was not sure if all of the five would be present at the victory feast that would be held for them; one might watch it from above.  
  
A/N: Yes! Finally finished this chapter! And I'm terribly sorry this took so long, but I'm in the middle of end-of-term exams, bla bla bla. I've already told you that a million times so you should know by now that I don't have that much time at the moment. But I really hoped you guys like this chapter.  
  
Dumbeldave – Yeah, pepsi up your nose isn't the most wonderful thing, I agree. Well, I updated again and I really hope this chapter was worth the long wait as well, because I really did take too long updating this time, didn't I? Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
Athenakitty – Thanks for reading and reviewing!  
  
Nme – Yes, I agree, the chapters are way too short in the beginning and they really suck as well, but as the story proceeds everything gets better and I just hope you have enough willpower to read on. Hopefully you have gotten so far, but I doubt it. Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
Skins Thunderbomb – Thanks and yes I also think that reviewer should shut up and try to write a full story him/herself because it's not easy. And I'm also aware of the unpleasant fact that Ron is a bit too stupid in my story, and I'm really trying to not make him that way, but it just happens. I'll try to change it when I finish this story. Maybe you should eat fruit instead of chocolate? Get your sugar levels to a normal height again. Thanks for reading and reviewing! 


	45. St Mungo's

A/N: I'd like to thank Kalieris because he/she (I don't know which, sorry) gave my story an average of more than 2 reviews per chapter! YAY! (Yes, I am incredibly happy about that.)  
  
Chapter 45: St. Mungo's Hospital  
  
Dumbledore stood beside Harry, droplets of raindrops dripping from his long and crooked nose. He cast a sideways glance at the meadow from his place by the forest and saw those who had survived Apparating back to get those who were unconscious or dead. Dumbledore levitated Harry and brought him back to the center of the meadow where Kingsley Shacklebolt stood waiting.  
  
"Leave the five to me," said Dumbledore, his voice grave.  
  
"He is alive?" asked Shacklebolt loudly over a roar of thunder.  
  
"I do not know," said Dumbledore, shaking his head. "Where is Severus?"  
  
"Tortured by the Cruciatus cruse. The house-elves are taking care of him."  
  
"How many have died?"  
  
"It's a wild guess, but I would say around 50," replied Shacklebolt, casting a quick glance at their surroundings.  
  
"There were about 170. What about Death Eaters?" said Dumbledore.  
  
"Nearly 100, and we still have more tied up and locked in the dungeons."  
  
"Very well." There was a bright flash of lightning and another loud roar of thunder as the rain pounded hard upon them, the meadow turning into more of a swamp. "Take everyone from our side to St. Mungo's. I will take care of the five." Kingsley Shacklebolt gave a slight nod and conjured up stretchers as Dumbledore walked over to the Quidditch Pitch, Harry floating serenely behind him. If the sky had been clear, the sun would have been seen setting, but thick overcast clouds covered it and it felt as they were living in the early hours of the morning, instead of the evening.  
  
"Draco," said Dumbledore softly. Draco, who had been struggling hard to get up, stopped and looked up at Dumbledore, his breathing fast and uneven. "I will take you to St. Mungo's Hospital-"  
  
"How's Nora?" demanded Draco. He managed to stand up straight but wobbled dangerously. Dumbledore reached out and held him upright.  
  
"I do not know," he replied. "Come with me and we will see." Only then did Draco notice Harry floating eerily in the air, lying on an invisible stretcher of some sort.  
  
"Is he dead?" whispered Draco.  
  
"I do not know," replied Dumbledore again before turning around and walking into the direction of the castle, which stood out poorly against the dark, thunderous sky. Draco hurried to keep up with his headmaster, all the while glancing worried looks around him as he clutched his excruciating arm that kept throbbing painfully. When they were back in the center of the meadow, Draco already saw her. She was lying amidst the debris of the castle that had broken off when so many people had been smashed against it. He ran over to her as fast as he could, his broken arm long forgotten, and let himself fall down next to her before holding her close in one arm, the broken one hanging limply at his side. Draco could see a long gash that went across Nora's chest, and when he looked closer, drops of blood were trickling out of it.  
  
"Come, Draco," said Dumbledore from beside him. Draco snapped his head up and saw that Hermione had been put on an invisible stretcher as well. She, too, had a large cut across her chest and looked rather pale. There was a large bloodstain on her t-shirt and Draco thought she looked rather dead to him. He wondered in horror if Nora was dead too. She felt cold. And she looked so peaceful, lying there in his arms. He wondered if all dead looked this peaceful... but he could not believe she really was dead. He would not believe it. She had to be alive... for him. Draco slowly let Nora go and Dumbledore lifted her in the air as well and she now floated serenely beside Hermione and Harry. Draco got up again, but exhaustion completely washed over him and he fainted, landing for the third time on his broken arm. Dumbledore closed his eyes wearily, just standing in the pouring rain for a few seconds, before opening them again and levitating Draco up as well. Now all he had to do was find Ron, the only one of the five who had not been injured or knocked out.  
  
"Dumbledore! Dumbledore!" Dumbledore turned around and saw Cleopatra, the Egyptian witch, running towards him, blood splattered all over her clothes. "Dumbledore," she panted upon finally reaching him. "Dumbledore, the Arabian King Obesa has just passed on." Dumbledore looked at her in disappointment. "He told me to tell you that you are to have his possessions and that you are to decide what is to be done with his riches." Dumbledore nodded gravely and Cleopatra gave him a sorrow filled smile before walking through the sheets of rain towards Kingsley Shacklebolt.  
  
"It may have gone ominous but everything is still better than I could have hoped for," whispered Dumbledore more to himself than anyone. A smile made its way onto his ancient and wrinkled face, a smile only he could wear in such horrible situations, and he marched proudly through the mud puddles, four children floating behind him, thick raindrops still plummeting from the dark, swirling clouds.  
  
"Dumbledore!" Professor McGonagall came running through the rain, an umbrella floating perfectly above her.  
  
"Minerva, how lovely of you to join me," said Dumbledore cheerily. McGonagall eyed him suspiciously for a second before she remembered what she was about to say.  
  
"Mr. Weasley has already been taken to St. Mungo's, though he appeared to be fine when I saw him. Seemed more concerned about the health of his friends than his own," she said.  
  
"Ah, yes. Mr. Weasley is a loyal friend indeed. I will take these four to St. Mungo's in an instant and explain matters to him myself before he can visit them. Is there a special Apparating area set up? I daresay we can't all arrive in the reception area, what with all the patients," said Dumbledore. McGonagall nodded.  
  
"Yes. The courtyard has been closed off. You will be able to Apparate there." Dumbledore nodded and McGonagall left again, carefully avoiding the many puddles scattered over the meadow. Dumbledore turned to the four floating students and swirled his wand high in the air. A second later they all disappeared only to reappear in St. Mungo's courtyard, where many more people, who had fought in the Second War, were Apparating or resting. The nearest Healer walked up to Dumbledore and immediately called three more over upon seeing the four children. Each Healer took one student inside the building and Dumbledore watched, hoping they would all be all right.  
  
"Excuse me," he said to the nearest Healer, who was busy mending a shriveled up leg that belonged to Tonks.  
  
"Yes?" the Healer asked, looking sideways at the old man.  
  
"Could you perhaps be so kind as to tell me where a certain Mr. Ron Weasley is?" The Healer shook his head and turned back to Tonks, who grimaced in pain. But Dumbledore did not need to ask around anymore, for at that moment Ron came darting through the crowd straight towards his headmaster.  
  
"How are they?" he demanded. "Are they all right? Are they alive?"  
  
"I do not know," replied Dumbledore. "Draco is the only one of who I am certain that he will be up and about soon enough. But as for your other three friends, it is inconclusive. You see, Ms. Granger and Ms. Glassyd were both tossed rather intensely into the walls of Hatsrowg, and Harry... well, he is the most indecisive. He was pitched ferociously into a tree and then fell flat onto the earth. None of these three have showed any signs of life so far, unless there pulse is dangerously weak it is hardly noticeable..." Ron stared hard into one of the shrubbery's that was placed beautifully in the courtyard. But it's splendor went past him as his mind raced. Maybe, a few hours from now, he would have lost three best friends and only have one left. His life would be completely ruined! He slowly sat himself done on the nearest bench and put his head in his hands, not wanting to think of what life would be like with three best friends gone.  
  
"I will come fetch you as soon as I receive news about them," said Dumbledore, before walking over to the nearest Healer and demanding the important facts so far about the members of the Order and International Organization.  
  
Ron tried hard to lock everything around him out. The excited chatter of those who were completely healed, the painful wailing of those who were currently being healed and anything else that had to do with his life right now. A part of him felt proud that he was the only one of the five who was not injured... or dead. But that was overshadowed by the misery and worry of losing someone he cared for, for the first time. The others, they had already lost family members or someone they loved, but he... he had always known the protection and warmth from his large family.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
It seemed to take an eternity before Dumbledore's voice finally penetrated the barriers Ron had set up. He snapped his head up and looked at his headmaster, who wore an unreadable expression. Before Ron could even say the first thing that had entered his mind, Dumbledore had begun speaking, answering Ron's unasked question.  
  
"They are alive. All of them, but Harry only just." Ron was on the verge of hyperventilating. He had never been so close in losing his best friends. "You are allowed to visit them, if you wish." Ron looked at Dumbledore as if he were mad. "I'll show you where they are, then," his headmaster added smiling. Ron jumped up from his seat on the wet bench, not noticing that the back of his once magically dried up pants were now damp, and followed Dumbledore excitedly inside the hospital.  
  
When they finally reached the fifth floor, the tearoom/hospital shop had been sealed off for patients from the Second War, Ron was already growing impatient and wondering when he could finally see them. When he finally burst through the door to the room his friends were in, with such excitement, it was only to see to his disappointment that they were all either still unconscious or asleep. There was a Healer in the room, she was checking up on Harry, and after she was done she told Ron to sit down, he sat in the empty chair by the window, and she explained to him the injuries of his friends. Dumbledore silently left the room.  
  
Draco, having fallen with his full wait on the same arm three times in a row, had sustained multiple fractures in his arm and shoulder. Though this had all been completely mended the moment he had gotten here, Draco still needed to stay in the hospital to rest up a little.  
  
The curse that had been used on Nora would've had a greater, more serious effect, if Hermione had not cast a silencing charm on Dolohov. But it had nevertheless caused enough damage that needed her to make ten different potions in order for it to heal. And she would not be able to move, without feeling some pain, for a while either.  
  
Hermione, though hit with the same curse as Nora, was in even worse shape, "for the more you are hit with that curse, the more damage it does." The Healer explained. Hermione had to take seventeen different potions every twelve hours and would be feeling immense pain for a while if she ever moved; there was a high chance she would not move at all, just to avoid the smarting.  
  
Harry was worst off than the other three put together. After having been smashed roughly into a tree and then plummeting many feet to the ground, he had fallen into a sometimes-irreversible sleep. The Healers had tried everything and anything to revive him from his coma, but nothing had worked and Harry would have to wake up himself. Ron gaped at the healer. How on earth could his friends have sustained such horrible injuries when he had gotten off with nothing!? Even now life was unfair and the thought crept into his mind that maybe it hadn't been worth it. That maybe they might as well not have fought in the Second War, since they would all die anyway. But the thought that they had saved so many families and lives of innocent people drove every other spiteful opinion out of his head.  
  
The Healer had left Ron alone to think and he glanced at his friends. He got up and walked to Hermione, after having seen that the Amulet of Era's was still around her neck. He leaned closer to see it better and even now, after they had triumphed over evil, the colors black, dark purple, dark blue and dark green still swirled innocently inside the Amulet, joining each other but never mixing to form one ugly color of brown.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
It was almost 2 o'clock in the morning now and Ron sat in the lonely chair by the window, just gazing into the Amulet of Era's like the hours before, wondering if he could've done something different and save Harry's life, for it was still not sure if Harry would ever wake again. Ron had taken the Amulet off Hermione's neck and held it carefully in two hands, nearly letting it fall to the ground when he heard someone call his name. He looked around and spotted the source.  
  
"You're awake," he stated bluntly. "You're the first one," he added. Draco's eyes wandered over to the other beds and rested devastatingly on Nora for a few seconds before turning back to Ron, for explanation.  
  
"She's not dead," Ron whispered and then recited what the Healer on duty had told him some hours earlier.  
  
When Ron had finished explaining, Draco got out of his bed with difficulty and slowly and carefully made his way over to Nora's, who was still sleeping peacefully, her chest now rising and falling normally. He knelt down beside her bed and took one of her hands in his, looking desolately at her pale, but beautiful face, still thinking she looked like someone who had been forced to grow up to quickly. Draco could not help but think that he had nearly let her slip away from him for a second time and in the future he would hold on to her even more than he already had, because if he lost her again, there'd be no more reason to live.  
  
"Here, mate," said Ron as he put the chair he had recently been sitting in, next to Draco, who looked at Ron, at the chair and then back at Ron before a small smile showed itself.  
  
"Thanks," he whispered hoarsely, seating himself down on the chair.  
  
"No problem," replied Ron, smiling as well. "I'll just go find me another one." And then he left the room. Draco watched him close the door and then turned back to look at Nora. He wondered what she was dreaming about, if she was dreaming at all. Or would it be a nightmare instead? He did not know, but if it was and she woke up screaming from it, he'd be right there to comfort her. Draco thought Ron was taking a rather long time getting a second chair, but he never knew how long Ron really was away, for he fell asleep again a few minutes later.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Nora opened her eyes and blinked, staring at the plain white ceiling. She tried to sit up but grimaced as pain shot through her, issuing from her chest. It took her a while to remember what she had clearly forgotten, before flashes of the Second War shot through her mind, almost like a slideshow. There was Voldemort killing Dumbledore with his own curse right in the beginning, followed by Death Eaters appearing from nowhere. Dolohov's twisted face smirking evilly at her and then purple flames. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down, and grimaced again as another twinge of pain went through her, again issuing from he chest. She looked down and saw that bandages had been wrapped around her and when she followed her arm, which was lying unusually off to the side, she saw her hand being held carefully in Draco's. She smiled a loving smile upon seeing Draco lying with his head on her bed, clearly exhausted.  
  
It was only then that she remembered the others, and she scanned the room for them, a guilty feeling in her stomach. But from her lying position she could only see Hermione, who lay next to her, and a vague figure by the window. Nora wondered what had happened after she and Hermione had been unconscious. Had they won the Second War? But then shouldn't she be able to hear shouts of joy from all those wizards and witches celebrating? She hoped they had won; otherwise it had all been for nothing. All that pain for nothing.  
  
The person by the window sighed, laid something carefully down on a side table beside him and then got up. He walked across the room with a few large strides and when he passed Nora's bed she could clearly see the red hair.  
  
"Ron?" she asked, knowing such hair could only be one person. Ron nearly had his hand on the doorknob when he turned around. He flashed her a big smile and walked over to her bed immediately, standing on the opposite side from where Draco lay sleeping.  
  
"That's two up," he said, giving Nora a careful hug. She tried to raise her arms and return it, but the pain was just too much.  
  
"So what happened? Did we win?" she asked anxiously. Ron nodded after he carefully let go of her again.  
  
"Yup." But his smile faltered when he thought of the cost their victory had come with. For the second time he repeated the story the Healer had told him.  
  
"He may never wake up?" Ron nodded.  
  
"But they say there's a larger chance he will," he told Nora reassuringly.  
  
"Oh." There was a moment's silence. "Do my parents know I'm here?" Ron nodded.  
  
"All of our families have been informed and Dumbledore's giving some sort of interview, just about now, in the Ministry of Magic, which will be in a late edition of today's Prophet, so the whole world will soon know as well."  
  
"But I thought Dumbledore was dead?" said Nora.  
  
"Nah," said Ron, kneeling down beside her bed and rubbing her arm comfortingly. "That was all some sort of little scheme he had planned. The Sorting Hat should've put him in Slytherin." Nora chuckled, closing her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again wearily.  
  
"So, what've you been up to?" Ron shook his head.  
  
"You don't have to keep me company. If you want you can go back to sleep," he told her. Nora smiled.  
  
"Ah, you know me too well," she said. Ron shrugged, grinning.  
  
"It's my duty as a best friend." He patted her head gently and got up again. Nora closed her eyes and fell asleep almost instantly.  
  
"Now to find me something to do," muttered Ron, looking around the room.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
It was now a day later, two days after they triumphed over Voldemort, and Ron was sitting with Draco beside Nora's bed; she had woken up again and was sitting propped up against a bunch of pillows Ron and Draco had gotten for her. There was still no sign of awakening from Hermione or Harry.  
  
"And Dumbledore says our families will be visiting later in the afternoon," said Ron, checking his watch. "And it is now... 11 o'clock," he added a bit disappointed.  
  
"We'll just have to wait until, then," said Nora simply, laughing when Ron gave her a look that clearly said 'Duh' and wincing when laughing hurt, as well as most other movements she usually made. A Healer came inside, saying she had received an owl for Harry.  
  
"I'll take it," said Ron, and the Healer gave him the piece of parchment she had been holding.  
  
"Who's it from?" asked Nora interestedly.  
  
"Parvati," replied Ron, reading whatever it was she had written on the front. There was a hint of fury in the look he wore upon finishing.  
  
"Well?" asked Nora and Draco together.  
  
"It says here that she wants Harry to read it alone, which means she doesn't even trust us," Ron told them.  
  
"Open it," urged Nora.  
  
"But it says-" argued Ron.  
  
"All the more reason we have the right to know, if it's something important," she interrupted. "Besides, I'm bored." Draco rolled his eyes. "That's one hit upside the head I'm going to give you when I can move properly again," she told him. Draco just flashed her a naughty little grin.  
  
"All right," said Ron while opening the letter, turning their attention back to him. "'Dear Harry', bla bla bla. 'I really missed you', bla, 'never been this worried in my life', yatti yatti ya. Ah, here's what we're looking for. 'Though I find it very hard to do this, I really feel that I have to, because this whole thing has gotten me thinking. You know I love you, I really do, but I just don't think I can live with the fear, that you bring with you, of being attacked, and perhaps murdered.' What fear? Voldemort's dead, you cow," muttered Ron furiously, sensing where Parvati's letter was going. "'This is why I have decided that our relationship should end. It's just too much for me to handle. But always remember that I love you and that I always will', no she doesn't. If she did she'd stay with him," growled Ron. "'Good bye, Harry. I'll miss you.' And that's it!" he shouted incredulously.  
  
"Oh, the nerve," muttered Nora.  
  
"Well, I certainly never saw that one coming," said Draco while Ron heatedly crumpled up Parvati's letter and chucked it angrily in their wastepaper basket, which devoured it hungrily.  
  
"This is going to kill Harry when he wakes up... if he wakes up," Nora said. "How dare she! And in a crummy little letter, as well! Ouch," she added, putting a hand carefully on her chest, trying to stop the pain.  
  
"Well, Parvati turned out to be a real-" Ron would've completed his sentence with a whole row of cuss words if he hadn't been so rudely interrupted by Hermione screaming her lungs out. Ron and Draco immediately scrambled over to her and Nora tried as well, but ended up shouting in agony as well, clutching her chest, cursing Dolohov in the process.  
  
"Are you ok, 'Mione?" asked Ron, as he and Draco each grabbed one of her hands trying to calm her down. Hermione shook her head fiercely, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks.  
  
"What happened?" demanded a muscular male Healer as he entered the room, wand at the ready.  
  
"We don't know. All of a sudden she was just screaming," said Ron rather weakly, eyeing the Healer, who walked over to Hermione, with apprehension.  
  
"She must have tried to move, am I right?" asked the Healer, who's name was Petey Malkonov, as Ron saw on his name badge. Hermione nodded slightly. "Yes, well, it'll be a painful week for you." She looked questioningly at Malkonov, too exhausted to even speak. The Healer explained the situation to Hermione, as well as telling her what had happened to the others, and she tried to cast a glance at Harry, who lay across the room from her, when Malkonov had finished.  
  
Nora was quite glad Hermione could not see Harry from her lying position, because, frankly, it was not a comforting sight to see him lying there in his bed, looking so pale and hardly breathing. In fact, if you had not known he was in a coma, you would've guessed him dead. Harry's chest didn't even rise or fall the slightest bit as he breathed and he never moved once in his, perhaps eternal, 'sleep'.  
  
"Does it hurt a lot?" Ron asked Hermione quietly when the Healer had left again, after giving Hermione and Nora their medicine, which tasted completely horrible. Hermione nodded. "But at least you're awake. Now all we do is wait for Harry before we five are completely back again," said Ron, trying to look and sound cheerful. Hermione nodded weakly.  
  
"H-... H-how long..." she tried to say, her voice gravelly. Ron's smile faltered a bit.  
  
"About two days."  
  
"Is D-D-Dumbledore dead?" Ron and Draco both shook their heads, smiling. Nora had slowly fallen asleep again.  
  
"No. He just faked his own death to fool Voldemort," explained Ron.  
  
"It's so quite," whispered Hermione, her normal voice coming back. "Do my parents... does my father know I'm here?" Ron and Draco nodded.  
  
"He's coming to visit this afternoon, along with our families." Hermione yawned and immediately cringed.  
  
"I wish they would give me some painkillers," she muttered, trying hard not to sigh and cause herself even more pain. "If you don't mind, I'd like to get some more sleep," she told Ron and Draco, who nodded their understanding. Ron gently patted her head and Draco gave her hand a slight squeeze before they walked to the middle of their room, wondering what to do next.  
  
"What?" asked Draco, seeing the grin Ron was wearing.  
  
"I have an idea to cheer her up," he replied. Upon seeing the questioning look Draco gave him, he went on, "You know those Muggle devices they sometimes talked about?" Ron pointed to Hermione and Nora. Draco frowned.  
  
"They've talked about millions of Muggle things. Be more specific."  
  
"You know those things that make music. It starts with an 'R'... I think."  
  
"Radio?"  
  
"Exactly."  
  
"What about it."  
  
"Well, I say we go find one, or summon one over, and bewitch it to play here, so it won't be so silent and they have something nice to listen to," Ron said excitedly. Draco shrugged.  
  
"I guess it's worth a shot, isn't it?"  
  
"Of course it is." And Ron dragged Draco out of the room, down the stairs and into the courtyard where people wounded from the Second War still waited.  
  
"Now what?"  
  
"Now we summon Hermione's radio."  
  
"You think we're allowed? It's already summer vacation."  
  
"Yeah, but we're of age, remember?"  
  
"True... but wouldn't Muggles think it a bit odd if a radio flew through the sky towards London? I mean, someone's bound to notice and then it'll be both of our heads." Ron thought about this for a few seconds before his arm, already raised to summon Hermione's radio, fell limply by his side.  
  
"Right. I forgot about that," he said sullenly. "But then how are we supposed to get one of those... things?"  
  
"Radio's."  
  
"Yeah, those."  
  
"I dunno. Maybe the hospital has one." Ron looked skeptically at him.  
  
"Yeah right... Oh! What about Hermione's parents?" he suggested excitedly. "We could owl them and ask 'em to bring it when they come to visit her this afternoon."  
  
"That sounds like a good idea, but where are we going to get an owl?"  
  
"Well, they're bound to have an owlery here, right?" Draco shrugged but they made their way inside in search of an owlery anyway.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
At three o'clock both Ron and Draco slumped onto one of the couches in the reception hall of St. Mungo's, which was once again filled with people, though most did not seem to be injured in any way. The two boys had eventually found the owlery, after asking many, many portraits, most of whom had led them the wrong way, and when they had finally arrived in the draughty tower, they needed to go back down for some parchment, a quill and ink to write a letter, before they went back up to the owlery to send it.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Hermione woke up to soft classical tunes, drifting beautifully through the room, then silence, then what appeared to heavy metal, silence once more and then gentle, classical tunes once again.  
  
"No, no, no, no, no, go back," ordered Nora. She was already awake again and sat propped up against the pillows Ron and Draco had fetched her earlier, directing the two boys with the radio, which they found simply fascinating. Ron went to the channel they had just passed and turned up the volume a little.  
  
"What, this?" he asked. Nora nodded and smiled. This seemed to be a good channel, since they were playing 'We didn't start the fire' by Billy Joel. Hermione listened to it, eyes closed wearily, a slight smile on her face. She was busy singing the third chorus along in her mind when she heard the door open, an excited cry of 'Oh, what's this?' and then silence again as Mr. Weasley pressed every button on the radio at least once, utterly enthralled.  
  
"Dad, please. Get a grip on yourself," muttered Ron, ears turning red. Nora ordered Draco to bring her the radio, while Mr. Weasley gave his son a hug, and she had soon found their favorite radio station again, hearing the last few tunes of Billy Joel's song.  
  
"Where are the others, Mr. Weasley?" she asked, trying to look into the hall searching for them, without causing herself some more pain.  
  
"Oh, they'll be here soon. Mr. Granger was leading us the right way, but Molly is currently holding them up by... er, demanding the best care for you five from the Healers," he said, a bit ashamed of his wife's concernedness. Mr. Granger had, after receiving the owl, brought Hermione's radio with him and gone back downstairs to wait for the others. "Now, this is one of them radio things, is it not? I read about them a while ago. Playing all sorts of Muggle music... I wish we could get one, but we don't have any plugs," he told them a bit crestfallen.  
  
"There are portable ones, you know," Nora told him. Ron groaned as his dad's face lit up. "They work on batteries."  
  
"That's all right, I've got enough of those," Mr. Weasley said.  
  
"Really? The small ones?" asked Nora. Mr. Weasley thought this over.  
  
"I do believe so."  
  
"Ronny dear!" shouted Mrs. Weasley from the doorway. Ron seemed simply shocked to see his mother standing there with her arms wide open, expecting a big hug from him. He ambled weakly over to her and let her wrap him into those bone-crushing hugs she always gave.  
  
"Hi, mum," he said as the families of the other three entered as well. Mr. Granger quickly hurried over to Hermione, who had opened her eyes, and gave her a gentle hug, during which she had to use all of her strength not to scream. Nora's parents, older brother and younger sister had walked over to her and all of them, except Lily, eyed Draco, who sat by the foot of her Nora's, suspiciously. Narcissa Malfoy had of course shot straight towards her son and smothered him in kissed, much to his humiliation. The whole Weasley party had surrounded Ron and his brothers congratulated him on his braveness while Ginny gave her older brother a big hug, tears forming in her eyes.  
  
The radio had been switched off again so they could all hear each other over their own loud talking. Mrs. Weasley was the first one who walked over to Harry's bed to see him, since she considered him as her own son, and soon the others followed, all with the same question of 'will he ever wake up?' on their minds.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
The families weren't allowed to stay long because the elderly female Healer insisted that "these children get some good rest, Madame," she told them while pushing Mrs. Weasley, the last one still struggling, out of the door and ordering them to not disturb the five any longer.  
  
"Seriously," huffed Mrs. Weasley. "I daresay we're allowed to see our own children after having had to live in the fear of losing them."  
  
"Yes, I certainly think so," agreed Mrs. Malfoy. Mrs. Weasley watched at her for a second with a look of 'did-I-ask-for-your-opinion?-I-think- not' before she smiled a little.  
  
"Well, I'm certainly complaining about the staff," she then said resolutely and Mrs. Malfoy and Glassyd nodded their agreement. But before anything else could be agreed the large group was shunted out of the tearoom, still place for victims from the Second War, by the same Healer who seemed to be on the verge of losing her temper, if she had one.  
  
"The nerve," huffed Mrs. Weasley as they all stepped outside in the warm air.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
A/N: All right, I wanted to stop here, and save my idea for the next chapter, but that's a whole different topic and this one is still a bit short, only 12 pages, so I'll put it here. But I'm afraid it's gonna get real sappy, so be warned:  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"I don't see why they had to leave so early," muttered Hermione.  
  
"Yeah," murmured Nora.  
  
"Turn on the radio again," Hermione ordered after having sighed a big sigh. Ron obeyed without even objecting her rudeness, as he usually would've done, but he guessed that Hermione was going to go through a horrible week, with the pain and all, so he decided to let it go this once.  
  
"Can anyone get me a glass of water?" asked Nora, looking sweetly at Ron.  
  
"We'll get it," offered Draco and he grabbed Ron and hurried out of the room, leaving a frowning Nora and a humming Hermione behind. Nora turned her head sideways to look at Hermione.  
  
"What was that about?" she asked. Hermione looked at her friend and shrugged.  
  
"Guy talk maybe?" Nora arched an eyebrow.  
  
"Ron and Draco?" she asked skeptically. Hermione thought this over and then shrugged.  
  
"I dunno, but you have to admit, they are getting friendlier with each other, even if it is inch by inch." Nora nodded.  
  
"Yeah, but why does it take so long? I mean, Harry and Draco already are friends, for a long time mind you," she said, forgetting the original topic.  
  
"Well, Ron's just more careful, isn't he?"  
  
"I guess..."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"I'm going to ask her to marry me."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm going to ask her to marry me."  
  
"Er... What?"  
  
"Ron."  
  
"Sorry. You just kind of... startled me."  
  
"Yeah... sorry."  
  
"No, no, no, don't apologize."  
  
"Er... What?" Ron chuckled. "Aren't you going to yell? That's what I was expecting."  
  
"Of course not."  
  
"But... but I already had a whole speech formed in my head."  
  
"You won't need it... unless when you guys tell her parents... they'll blow their top... at least her father will."  
  
"Right... right," said Draco, completely unsure now.  
  
"Oh no, no, no, don't worry. They'll love you," said Ron quickly, patting Draco's shoulder.  
  
"I doubt it," he muttered.  
  
"Aw, why not? I do." Draco snapped his head up to shoot a horrified look at Ron when he saw the redhead grinning cheekily.  
  
"You scare me sometimes, you know that?" Ron nodded, grinning still.  
  
"So when are you going to ask her?"  
  
"Well, I was hoping sometime soon, now that I have mustered up some courage." Ron nodded, clearly thinking hard.  
  
"Yes, yes. And where?"  
  
"I dunno."  
  
"I see... yes, well, you'll have to tell Hermione first. She'll give you some pointers; she's great in this kind of stuff," said Ron more to himself than to Draco before putting an arm around him and steering him back to their room. Even though they were allowed to sleep at home again, now that they were both better, the two preferred to stay in the hospital, to keep their friends some company.  
  
"What took you so long?" demanded Nora, turning bossy like Hermione. "And where's my water?" she then asked, looking at the empty hands of both boys.  
  
"Completely slipped our minds. We'll go get some right now," said Ron.  
  
"What on earth were you guys doing all that time, then?" asked Nora suspiciously.  
  
"Guy talk," called Ron as he dragged Draco out of the room with him.  
  
"I told you," said Hermione in a fake arrogant voice.  
  
"So you're right once again. It's not that big a deal. You're right every time," Nora told her. Hermione nodded proudly, trying hard to move as less as possible.  
  
When Ron and Draco returned they were each holding a large pitcher filled with icy water, so that they wouldn't have to go back sometime soon.  
  
"Cups?" asked Hermione, eyebrows raised, looking at them as if they were completely stupid.  
  
"Urgh," said Ron, slapping his forehead.  
  
"I'm not going back again," stated Draco. "Can't you use something else to drink from?"  
  
"Yeah, or transform something?" added Ron. Hermione still looked at them as if they were stupid and then, when they still hadn't gotten the message, she indicated with her head to the bandages around her chest.  
  
"Besides, I have no idea where my wand is," she told them.  
  
"The Healers have it. They'll return it to you when you leave this hospital," Ron informed her.  
  
"Ah, I'd thought I'd lost it."  
  
"So what about the cups?" asked Nora, bringing the conversation back to the original issue.  
  
"We'll go get them," grumbled Ron, pulling Draco with him.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Here. Cups. And we're not going out of this room for something else until it's five hours later," said Ron, setting the plastic cups rather hardly down next to the two pitchers of water.  
  
"Yes. Well, someone's going to have to help me drink because we all know I can't do a single thing by myself," said Hermione bitterly. Draco immediately walked over to her with a cup of water and Ron new this was his cue to distract Nora, who seemed a bit confused as to why her boyfriend would not rather be with her.  
  
"Hi," said Ron, blocking her view from the other two.  
  
"Er... hi," replied Nora, stopping to try and see what Hermione and Draco were doing and instead turning to Ron. "What are they doing?" she demanded. Ron shrugged.  
  
"I dunno. So, how are you?" Nora frowned suspiciously at him.  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Good. Good."  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
"To give you your water," said Ron proudly, handing Nora a cup of water. She took it and carefully took a few sips before handing it back to Ron, who held onto it for her.  
  
"So..." said Nora, not really knowing what to say, especially when Ron kept looking at her in that strange way. It almost seemed as if tears were forming in his eyes. Tears of pride. Which was weird, because what on earth had she done lately, except lie in this stupid bed and complain? Maybe they were tears of sadness, because she and the others had gotten hurt? But, no. He wouldn't be smiling like that.  
  
"You know, I wonder if Harry will ever wake up," said Ron thoughtfully, handing Nora her cup of water when she asked for it again.  
  
"Of course he will," she said consolingly before taking another few sips and handing the cup back to Ron yet again. Her mind had already been completely taken off of Ron's weird acting. "Of course he will. You know Harry. He always pulls himself through."  
  
"Yeah, but there's a first time for everything. What if he doesn't this time? I'd lose my best friend," Ron stated somberly.  
  
"At least you'd still have us. I mean, there are many people out there who don't even have one best friend, let alone three," Nora told him.  
  
"Oh yeah? Name one."  
  
"Professor Lupin."  
  
"Oh. I forgot about him... name another one."  
  
"Snape, probably," said Nora thoughtfully, and before Ron could even issue another sound she added," Trelawny, Pansy Parkinson and there's this really lonely first year Ravenclaw who was always walking alone... and of course there are hundreds more out there who I don't know."  
  
"But Snape's a git, of course he wouldn't have any friends, and Trelawny's an old fraud, no one with free will would go near her and Pansy's just a big stupid cow who deserves no friends."  
  
"If you had to chose, who would you rather be friends with: Snape, Trelawny or Parkinson?" asked Nora, smiling evilly.  
  
"That lonely first year Ravenclaw."  
  
"She's not a option."  
  
"Then I refuse to answer."  
  
"Killjoy."  
  
"Well, who would you rather be friends with, then?" asked Ron interestedly.  
  
"If I had to choose... Trelawny." Ron gaped at her. "Well, she's the only one who isn't a Slytherin," explained Nora shrugging.  
  
"Ouch," said Draco from beside her, a hand over his heart.  
  
"You're an exception," Nora told him, smiling. She then turned back to Ron. "I mean, seriously, Trelawny is way better than Snape or Parkinson." He shrugged, knowing Nora was pretty much right.  
  
"Ron!" called Hermione. "I want company," she added pouting. Ron sighed and turned around to talk to his other friend.  
  
"So, what did you and Hermione talk about?" Nora asked Draco interestedly. He shrugged.  
  
"Nothing much."  
  
"Liar."  
  
"All right, we were talking about you and made a plan to spread all sorts of nasty rumors," he told her sarcastically, to get her off his back.  
  
"Fine, don't tell me then," Nora told him, feeling a little sad and confused as to why he wouldn't just tell her.  
  
"I love you," Draco said, seeing the slight pain in Nora's eyes and trying to make her feel better.  
  
"Prove it," she said, grinning playfully.  
  
"Well, I would, but I don't think you're in any state to do what I have in my mind," said Draco seriously. Nora smiled, her confusion long forgotten.  
  
"Well, then, you'll just have to find something else," she said.  
  
We move on to Hermione and Ron, who were busy discussing what Hermione and Draco had discussed moments before, because Draco and Nora were now involved in some very heavy, but yet careful, since some movement still hurt, snogging.  
  
"So you did help him, then?" whispered Ron. Hermione nodded.  
  
"Yeah. I gave him a location of where to do it and when."  
  
"Well?" demanded Ron, just dying to know.  
  
"I'm not telling right now, in case she hears. Besides, they'll tell you what happened after he's done it, ok?"  
  
"Yeah, all right. What time is it?" Hermione looked at him, frowning. "Oh right, you can't move." Ron walked around Hermione's bed and picked up the watch that lay on her nightstand. "It's 7 o'clock," he said as he lay the watch down again.  
  
"He's asking her a bit before 11," whispered Hermione, after having made sure Nora would not be able to hear. "You're going to have to help Draco set it up, all right?" Ron nodded eagerly.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Could you guys get me some more water?" asked Hermione. Ron and Draco nodded.  
  
"But there's still water left in the pitchers," Nora told her.  
  
"That's warm. I want ice water," said Hermione dismissively. Ron and Draco left the room in search of more water and Hermione closed her eyes and rested, leaving Nora looking at her a little befuddled; her friends were acting rather strange today, to say the least.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Ron and Draco came back a little while later, each carrying a pitcher of ice water again.  
  
"What took you so long?" asked Nora.  
  
"Well, we were just making sure we had everything this time, because we didn't want to have to go back again," explained Ron, as he and Draco sat the pitchers down.  
  
"I have a surprise for you," Draco told Nora, butterflies in his stomach. "I asked the Healer on duty if I was allowed to take you for a walk and she agreed."  
  
"But I can't walk..." argued Nora, becoming more and more confused.  
  
"That's all right. I'll carry you."  
  
"But..."  
  
"Oh, quit arguing. At least you get to leave your bed," snapped Hermione. Nora thought this over and then nodded.  
  
"All right. But do be careful, ok?" she asked Draco rather weakly. He nodded.  
  
"Of course I will," he assured her before carefully putting his hands underneath her, then cautiously lifting her in the air and then gently holding her close to him. Ron walked over and delicately put Nora's arms around Draco's neck, so she had something to hold on to.  
  
"Good luck," said Ron, sitting down in a chair beside Hermione's bed.  
  
"Thanks," said Draco, before slowly walking out of the room.  
  
"What?" asked Nora.  
  
"Well, he probably meant that he hoped you wouldn't get hurt while I carry you," said Draco shrugging.  
  
"Oh. You know, we could have gotten a wheelchair for me or something."  
  
"I doubt they have those here. Besides, wheelchairs can't go down stairs," replied Draco, carefully taking one step down at a time, focusing hard on not trying to hurt Nora.  
  
"Yeah... and of course they don't have any elevators here, either," she said, looking around as much as her wounded chest allowed her. "So, where are we going?"  
  
"The courtyard," replied Draco, beginning descending another set of stairs. "Damn, why did they have to put us on the 5th floor?" he grumbled.  
  
"St. Mungo's has a courtyard?" asked Nora.  
  
"Yeah... there aren't many people around, are there?" asked Draco, hoping she wouldn't ask why he was taking her to the courtyard.  
  
"I guess. Usually there are more people out in the halls, aren't there?"  
  
"Well, it's already 10:30, so most are probably ready to go to sleep."  
  
"A bit early, don't you think?"  
  
"Well, it's not like they have anything else to do," replied Draco, descending down the last staircase.  
  
"Maybe I should walk on my own? I probably can already," Nora told him, seeing how much energy Draco was putting in trying to not hurt her.  
  
"Oh no you don't. If you fall you'll injure yourself even more and we'll be farther from home than before," he said, holding on to her more tightly, as if afraid she'd jump out of his arms and try to walk anyway. They finally reached the hall that led to the courtyard.  
  
"Thanks," said both Nora and Draco when one of the other patients in the hospital held the door to the courtyard open for them.  
  
"Your welcome, kids," the old man said gruffly and then closed the door behind them.  
  
"Oh, the sky's beautiful tonight," murmured Nora, looking up. It was completely cloudless and the stars twinkled brightly above them. Draco walked down a couple of paths, took a few turns and finally arrived at the place he and Ron had quickly set up. Nora only noticed her surroundings when Draco was carefully laying her down on a blanket, lain out on the grass.  
  
"Merlin, you're heavy," he muttered, lying down beside Nora and wrapping his arms around her.  
  
"Yes, I try to get really fat so I can watch you struggle as you try to carry me over the threshold on our wedding day," she told him, smiling sweetly. Draco's heart skipped a beat when she said 'wedding'. He wondered why this was so incredibly hard to do. "So, what's this?" Nora asked, becoming more serious. "I thought we were only going for a walk?"  
  
"Er... we were... erm... but..." muttered Draco. 'All right, speech..." he thought frantically. 'Speech... the speech you idiot!' "Well, I thought we'd just lay and watch the stars for a bit as well," he replied.  
  
"Oooh, very thoughtful," murmured Nora.  
  
"Right, so..." but Draco got caught in his own words and he went silent.  
  
"What's wrong?" asked Nora, sensing his nervousness.  
  
"Nothing, nothing... remember about 6 months ago, when we were in Australia? The sky was just as beautiful and clear as tonight," Draco told her. Nora nodded, smiling. "I already knew a long time before, that I loved you, but you found out on that gorgeous night, under the star filled sky." Nora wondered where this whole speech was going, but in the back of her mind she knew not to interrupt him, so she just listened while gazing into his lovely eyes. "Now that I've been with you for this long already, I can't picture my life without your presence or your love and there is no one else I'd want as the mother of my children than you. Which is why I ask you: will you marry me?" Draco took out a silver ring from his pocket and held it out for Nora, who pretty much just gaped at him and the ring he was trying to give her.  
  
"But..." she spluttered, completely at a loss for words.  
  
"I didn't have time to buy you a ring, with Voldemort on the loose, so Hermione lent me hers until I do have one," he said. Only then did Nora see 'Terry (heart) Hermione' engraved in the ring.  
  
"But Hermione has other rings, why'd she give this one?" she asked.  
  
"Well, she said that if I used this, it'd have another special meaning," Draco explained. "So, will you marry me?" he then asked nervously, since she had still not given her answer. Nora gazed into his icy gray eyes, treasuring this moment, before closing her eyes and smiling.  
  
"Of course," she told him, opening her eyes again, from which tears were trying to escape. Draco put the ring on her left ring finger and after that a careful, yet passionate, snogging session began, which did not stop, like in Australia, when bells announced loudly that it was 11 o'clock.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"And?" asked Ron eagerly when Draco and Nora entered the room and Nora was carefully put back in bed. "Well?" he demanded again, practically jumping up and down in eagerness.  
  
"It went well," said Draco, grinning.  
  
"I said 'yes'," added Nora, smiling lovingly at Draco.  
  
"Oh, good for you!" said Hermione, beaming at the two.  
  
"Excellent!" exclaimed Ron. But there was one person not able to celebrate and they all looked sadly at Harry, who lay calmly in his bed, not knowing about anything that went on anymore.  
  
A/N: Wheeee! Another chapter finished! And it's 20 pages as well, so I certainly made this longer than it was before, though I know the proposal was a bit sappy and clichéd. Anyway, the next chapter's subject will be poor Harry in his coma.  
  
Dumbeldave – Yay, glad you liked it, I was kind of worried that it was a bit... not interesting. But you liked it, so I'm happy. Hope you liked this chapter as well. Thanks for reading and reviewing!  
  
Athenakitty – Haha, no your questions aren't that bad, I just don't really know how to reply to them. But, yes, Voldie is very upset and, thankfully, very, very dead. Thanks for reading and reviewing!  
  
Kalieres – Well, Dumbledore didn't kill Kreacher, let's just say he had someone else do it, but it really isn't out of character, I mean, the house- elf had nearly gotten Harry and his friends killed.  
As to why they don't take a portkey to Australia, is because this way the wizards and witches learn how to get along with Muggle transportation. It's just how to learn to live in the outside world.  
And as for the lyrics, I know I must be very annoying, but I just can't restrain myself. When I re-edit the story when I've completed it, I'll try to take the lyrics out and rid the chapters of annoying author's notes.  
Thanks for the helpful suggestions! And thanks for reading and reviewing! 


	46. Darkness

A/N: This chapter is probably going to be rather short, but I'm almost certain it'll be interesting to read, at least I hope so...  
  
Chapter 46: Darkness  
  
There was darkness all around him. Absolutely nothing but darkness. Harry looked around, but there was still no difference in his surroundings than the last hundred times he checked. He had no idea how long he had been here, it could have been hours, weeks or even years, nor did he know which way was left or right, or even if he was standing the right way up. Harry looked around him again, desperately wanting to get out. He knew that was the idea, that he had to escape, but he just did not know how. He heard a noise almost right beside him, and then a voice that he was sure he recognized.  
  
"Parvati's dumped you mate," the voice whispered and Harry snapped his head to the side, almost certain he would see the person to whom the voice belonged, it was so close beside him, after all, but there was only darkness. He wondered who this Parvati was and what the voice wanted to tell him with it. Harry knew he once knew the name, that he once knew who the voice belonged to, but it seemed as if someone had completely wiped his memory blank, for he did not even know his own name. Maybe it was a game? To see if he would ever get out? And if he didn't he would spend eternity wandering as a lost soul around this place of darkness.  
  
He tried hard to remember who the voice belonged to and the answer seemed to be right there in front of him, but just out of his reach. Bright light shone from far, far away, only a tiny dot to Harry, and he tried to see what it was, before it disappeared again. He ran forward, determined to find the place from where the light had shone, and it felt weird. Though he had walked and run many times in this space, he still never got used to the feeling. It was as if he was running through the air, and he wasn't even sure if he was going in a straight line or a downwards one, or if he wasn't just veering off to the left. No matter how long or fast he ran, the light did not shine again and he stopped again, once more searching his surroundings for some grip.  
  
Harry searched his memory again, this time to why he was here. The only thing he could remember was a lot of... force and him being pushed into the air by it. That was all. He could remember someone angry being there... maybe he had gotten into a fight and had gotten killed? Maybe this was hell? Once again, a bright white light shone, now from a different direction, but Harry saw that it was slightly larger than the other one. He immediately ran forward, but before he had even taken so much as a few great strides, the light was gone and he stood still again.  
  
He was scared of course, this place completely frightened him and he did feel like crying, but he did not know what for. Who knows if the place he had been in before was better than this? What if there had been eternal suffering and death in his other world and this was a haven where he could get away from it? But he knew by the voice that kept whispering things from the other world into his ear, that it was not better here and that if given the choice, he would rather go back to his normal world... unless this was his normal world and he was the only one left? But then why did he not know what had happened before this? Why did he suddenly find this, where he was, strange and unusual? And why did he know there was a somewhere else where he really belonged when he was stuck here with no way out?  
  
There was a prickling feeling in his head. Harry winced in pain when it would not stop and he tried hard to make end it, which only seemed to make it worse. He reached up with one hand and touched the place on his forehead, from where the pain was coming. He felt something. It was a cut, a strange shaped cut and when he had traced it with his fingers for the 10th time, he found it was a strange, zigzag line that seemed to be in the shape of a lightning bolt. This was why he had fought, Harry knew, and instantly the same bright light shone, this time from his right (it kept changing position) and again it was slightly larger than the last time. He knew better than to run and scare it away, so he focused hard on the fight. Another piece of the puzzle seemed to come into place as he closed his eyes and knew that someone had wanted him dead, by the one he had fought. When he opened his eyes, Harry saw that the light had grown a little. He smiled to himself. Maybe he would be able to escape after all? But he had stopped concentrating on what he had only just figured out and the light disappeared again, much to Harry's disappointment; that light was the only thing to keep him company. Now it was just him swallowed in darkness again.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Harry did not know how much time had passed since he had heard the voice speak again, but it had felt like a decade. He had begun to give up hope of ever figuring more out about his world and seeing the light again, when he heard the same friendly voice from right beside him again, but when he looked, there was no one there, just the ever looming darkness that he gotten used to. But instead of the usual short sentences, the voice seemed to give a whole speech, and Harry listened to it intently, hanging on to every word as if his life depended on it, which was quite true.  
  
"I don't know if you can hear me... I haven't asked the Healers if you're able to... but I speak to you anyway, because I feel, actually hope, that you can and that this way you'll know we're all here for you. The last thing I told you was that Parvati had ditched you, sorry about that by the way, but this time I have happier news, great news, in fact. Nora and Draco are engaged. It's a bit soon, but they said the wedding would be after they had finished Hogwarts." Harry gave a jerk with his head when a sudden flash of a high towering castle, glowing eerily comforting in the darkness of the night shot through his mind. But as soon as it had come it was gone and Harry heard nothing else from the voice. The light shone weakly and then faded away. He knew this was his chance to try and get it closer, now that he had more information, and though he could not remember anything of what had been said, it all sounded so familiar he was furious with himself for not knowing.  
  
The voice had mentioned Healers. Harry had no idea what they were, but from the name he guessed they healed people... so he was ill? Or at least in some state that needed him to be cared for. And Parvati had been mentioned again... but he did not really want to ponder on that; judging by the way the voice spoken of her, she hadn't been very nice. Harry thought hard. A wedding had been mentioned. Nora and Draco. His stomach did an odd sort of flip as he thought about the last name. He knew that if he just remembered Draco, he would be able to get out of here. Harry raked his mind to hurting point for anything that would help him and when he was on the verge of giving up, he received another flash, which contained only a flash of bright light and a weird feeling in his right hand. As if it was being held. Harry gently shook it up and down and then gazed at it. He had shaken hands with someone, no with Draco and that caused the flash of white light! His breathing was very fast now. He was almost there, he could see the white light clearly now, it was right there, but still a far away. If only he had some more information... if only the voice was here again... to keep him company.  
  
Harry heaved a sigh, something he had not done in a long time, or he had and it had just felt like a long time ago. He thought every single piece of his world over, to see if somehow he would be able to pry something else out of it as well. He had fought with someone who wanted him dead... someone who had given him that scar, he realized... and the person had thrown him into the air, causing him to have to be taken care of by other people who could heal him... there was a voice who talked to him a lot and told him things, hoping he would be able to hear... the voice was his friend... Nora and Draco were engaged, getting married after Hogwarts, a large pleasant castle... he had once shaken hands with Draco and a bright white light shone... had it been a light of connection? Harry did not realize he had closed his eyes while thinking, and when he opened them he saw the light of the exit dancing merrily in front of him. Though he knew it was still far away, the circle of light was already larger in diameter than he was in length. Harry longed for it to stay there and let him walk through, but he knew it would not allow it, not until he had completed the puzzle.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Hope was definitely fading now. Harry had not heard from the voice for so long now, even longer than before, that he thought it had given up hope and left him. But Harry did not want it to have left; he wanted to get out of wherever it was he was stuck and he wanted to know who that voice was that was helping him out of here, and if the voice knew it was helping him. It felt liked another incredibly long time when he heard the voice again. It was more wondering now, more desperate, and still it sounded as if the person who was speaking was right beside Harry, and he could not help but check to make sure, but there was no one.  
  
"I'm wondering what goes on when someone's in a coma...I supposed they just sleep until they wake up... do you dream, Harry?" 'Who?' thought Harry. 'What, that's my name? ... I'm Harry.' "I guess you do. I hope they're only good dreams, not nightmares. I wonder if you dream of Sirius... or of your parents. Maybe the dead visit you in your dreams when you're in a coma? Well, I certainly hope Voldemort stays out of there..." the voice heaved a sigh and Harry looked a bit dazed. "I hope you wake up soon... I miss you... the others do to, but I think I'm the only one who actually talks to you... I really hope you wake up soon."  
  
Harry needed a while to process this, it contained a lot of information he did not know how to handle... if he was in a coma then how on earth... earth? Was that his world? Was his world earth? Harry felt like crying again. Why did he not know!? He ordered himself to calm down and he slowly did, taking a few deep breaths and then beginning to process everything again, hoping he would be able to get out now... it felt like he would.  
  
He was in a coma, yet still stuck in eternal darkness... the voice had called him Harry, which was probably his name... someone named Sirius had been mentioned. There was a picture of a man, good looks taken away, completely filthy, looking like he was on the run... it was familiar, but, then again, everything else was, too... he had had parents, but they were dead... why? He wanted to have parents, but why did he not? Harry felt like crying again, though he stubbornly continued, there was only one thing left to process... there was someone named Voldemort, Harry found it a strange name.  
  
Voldemort. Who named they're child that? But that was not important anymore; Harry saw the now small dot of bright light rapidly growing into the large circle as painful flashes of what seemed to be his life from before ran through his mind. He was one year old, a bright, green light striking his parents, both of them falling on the ground. He was older now, how old he did not know, a dog was chasing him around a garden. Still older now. A large, rough looking man, though with a friendly smile and twinkling eyes handed him a letter. Wizard. A high towering castle, glowing eerily comforting in the darkness of the night. Hogwarts. Three children, two girls and one boy... the friendly voice. A large snake, about to strike him. A sword with ruby's. Gryffindor. A tall man, twinkling eyes, long beard and always a smile. A dead student beside him in a graveyard. Sirius falling through an innocently fluttering veil. Masked men killing students. Large castle, towering eerily above them, people battling in front of it, some dead, some alive. Tall, snake-like man, smiling evilly... Voldemort.  
  
As Harry thought it, the circle of light sucked him into it and he felt everything rushing back to him. Not just the flashes of random things he had experienced, but his memory, his own memory that had been wiped blank so, so long ago was coming back to him and he felt as if it was going to be to much. The light was blinding and he closed his eyes, wishing it would pass, wishing he was in his own world, his earth. It all suddenly stopped as sudden as it had come and he did not dare move. Harry felt himself lying in a bed and after calming his heart down and breathing normally again he carefully opened his eyes and looked at a white ceiling. A plain white ceiling, though in his mind, nothing could have been more beautiful.  
  
A/N: Oh my god, I cannot believe I wrote this in one day! It's short, I know, only 4 pages, but it's got a lot of description and I really hope it was interesting to read. I really tried my best... I always do. =D But unfortunately my writers block, though it left me alone for the last few chapters, came back and the next chapter is starting off rather slow, so be patient, please.  
  
Kalieris – yes, well, I'll try to change the situation between Hermione and her father a bit as well, but Hermione has a different way of dealing with loss. I mean, take Nora, for example. She just cries and cries and shuts herself off for a while, but Hermione pushes it away and overcomes it. Besides, Voldemort killed her mother, so all her rage goes to his direction. But I will try to change it, thanks for pointing that out to me. I checked the previous chapter to see where I had written about Hermione's parents, but I couldn't find it... do you maybe remember where exactly it was? Thanks for reading and reviewing!  
  
Dumbeldave – yes, well, you like all of my chapters, so I wonder why I keep thinking you might not like the next one I write... but there's a first time for everything. Thanks for reading and reviewing!  
  
Archelous – Bite me.  
  
Enchanted Soul – Glad you like my story so much! It's ok if you haven't reviewed before, I really don't mind, as long as you like reading my story and don't flame, like the (...) above you. Thanks for reading and reviewing! 


	47. Slight Recovery

_A/N_: I'm so sorry this took soooooo incredibly long! I just did not know how to continue and I was erm... kind of playing the Sims a lot, too... sorry... and it was my birthday on the 22nd of April, so I was kind of busy dreading that, but I really hope you guys like it and that none of you are too mad at me...  
  
**Chapter 47: Slight Recovery  
**  
Harry lay in his bed just staring at the ceiling above him for hours. It must be late in the night, for he couldn't hear any other sounds apart from his own breathing, which seemed rather loud, but that might have been because he had spent the last few... because he had spent a long time in complete isolation with nothing to keep him company except the white dot of light and Ron's voice... Ron. Only now did Harry remember his friends, which was very selfish, and he wondered what had happened to them after Voldemort had exploded. He knew Ron was all right, as well as Nora and Draco. From what Ron had told him while he was in a coma the two were more than all right. But Harry had heard nothing about Hermione. He could not care less that Parvati had dumped him, he didn't even know why; all he wanted was to know that Hermione was completely fine as well. If she had died Voldemort's defeat would mean nothing to him.  
  
"H-H-Hermione," Harry whispered, but his voice was so hoarse that only half of her name was said. He lay staring at his ceiling for a few more minutes before taking a deep breath and trying again. "Hermione." It was fully pronounced now, but still to quiet, for there was no sign that told him someone had heard. But what if Hermione wasn't even in his room? What if they were all in a different ward? "Hermione." Harry tried one last time, but there was still no reaction. Giving up, he went back to staring at the beautiful white ceiling again. He did not want to go back to sleep again... to be honest, he was scared to. What if he landed back in the area of darkness? So Harry stayed awake through the whole night, hearing more and more noise around him as it gradually grew lighter.

Rays of sunlight were scattered all over the room when Harry heard movement in his room. His eyes were still opened wide as he stared at the ceiling and he only blinked when he heard a loud yell and then questions of: "What?" "Ron, what happened?" and "Why are you lying on the floor?" Ron seemed to have gotten up, because next thing Harry saw, besides plain white ceiling above him, was Ron's face with a look of disbelief on it and bulging eyes. Draco's head came into view next, but Nora's and Hermione's never came.  
  
"How long have you been awake?" asked Ron, not daring to believe it. Only now did Harry look him in the eyes. He tilted his head a little. It felt so good to see his friends again, he could hardly believe it himself. After having been stuck in eternal darkness he could finally see his friends again.  
  
"I don't know," he replied, his voice still a bit hoarse. It felt like his eyes were welling up and he tried hard not to blink.  
  
"Oh. Did you have to wait long?" asked Ron, a bit unsurely. Harry hesitated for a moment.  
  
"I don't know," he then said. It was difficult to tell time after having spent so long without it.  
  
"Oh." Awkward silence followed before Harry spoke up again.  
  
"Hermione?" he asked, still not knowing if she was dead or alive.  
  
"Yes?" came Hermione's voice from the other side of the room. Harry smiled. They were all still alive. All of them.  
  
"Hi," he said.  
  
"Hi." Another awkward silence passed, which was interrupted when a Healer came into their room to bring them their food and medicine. He cast a quick glance around the room, from Hermione smiling, something she rarely did lately, to Ron and Draco who were both by Harry's bed, and he knew something was different. He hurried over to Harry's bed and gasped, before shunting Ron and Draco to the side and hurrying Harry in his bed out of the room. Harry had no idea where they were going or why they left the room. He watched portraits whisper to each other as he and the Healer passed and whenever they passed someone in the hall, the patient would look at him with tear-filled eyes it seemed. When they finally stopped, it was in an empty and completely white room. The Healer stationed Harry's bed in the middle and when he waved his wand, 20 different potions immediately appeared on a round white table.  
  
"When did you awake?" asked the Healer, before handing one of the potions, a vile yellow one which had steam coming from it, to Harry, who looked at it with misgiving.  
  
"I don't know," he replied, holding the potion at a distance. "Somewhere in the night."  
  
"I see," the Healer said. "Go on, drink it," he told Harry after a while. "It'll clear your mind a little." Harry did as he was told and drank the potion in one gulp, making a face when he tasted the foul flavor it had. "How did you feel when you awoke?" the Healer then asked, grabbing another potion, red this time.  
  
"Tired," replied Harry simply, before taking the red potion and knocking it back. He eyed the 18 potions still standing on the table with mistrust,  
  
"And how do you feel now?"  
  
"Tired."  
  
"Ah." Harry was handed more potions to drink, about five maybe, he wasn't in the mood to count, and he noticed that they all had the strangest flavor and that none of them seemed to make him feel any different. All the while the Healer observed him intently, as if Harry were surely to show signs of abnormality any second now. After those potions there was a small silence, during which the Healer set apart three more mixtures and Harry wondered if he had to drink those three, or the remaining nine.  
  
"Do you feel any different?" asked the Healer. Harry shook his head. "All right, then. Here." Harry drunk that clear concoction as well, and it seemed to have no taste at all before it burned his mouth and throat with a zest so awful it was like nothing he had ever tasted.  
  
"Try to keep it inside," said the Healer calmly, when Harry had begun to gag. "Good." Harry leaned back against his bed again, panting, and felt a slight burning that moved downwards inside his body. "That potion kills any 'evil' bacteria in your body, because we have no idea what happened while you were in that coma. For all we know it was one last evil scheme to kill you," the Healer, who seemed somewhere in his 20's, told him.  
  
"Oh," was all Harry could say.  
  
"Is the burning sensation gone?" Harry nodded. "Ok, then drink this." Harry took the second clear potion and hesitated a little before tossing that one down too. Fortunately, it had a slight sweet taste and this time a cool, fresh sensation spread through his body. "That mixture rids you of all the bacteria killed by the first potion. Here, this is the last one you have to drink," the Healer said and he handed a light blue one to Harry, who drank it and instantly felt himself freshen up. With another wave of his wand, the Healer made the rest of the potions and the table they had stood upon disappear and he got up and walked towards the door. Harry, looking after him, wondered if he was going to be left here alone. But the Healer opened the door and instead of walking out of the room, spoke to someone Harry could not see. A few moments later, though, Harry did not have to crane his neck to see who the other person was, for the Healer walked back into the room, Dumbledore right behind him.  
  
"The test results should be in soon, Albus," the Healer said as they both walked back over to Harry, "you can interrogate Mr. Potter until they do, but I have to stay to keep an eye on him and wait for the results."  
  
"It really would be better if you could leave, Theodore. I can watch Harry by myself and I'm sure I'm capable of receiving the test results," argued Dumbledore, but the Healer shook his head.  
  
"Nice try, Albus, but it's a St. Mungo's policy, and if you can't talk with him while I'm here, you'll just have to wait until the test results tell us he's completely fine and I can leave him with an old man like yourself." Dumbledore rolled his eyes, something Harry had never seen him do, and the old man conjured up two chintz armchairs that looked a lot more comfortable than Harry's hospital bed felt. The two men sat down in them and Dumbledore put the tips of his fingers together and rested his chin upon them, watching Harry intently, who did not know how to look back.  
  
"You know you've been in a coma?" Harry nodded. "You have been told?" Harry nodded again. "Did you know _while_ you were in it?" Harry hesitated a little and then nodded again. Dumbledore's eyebrows seemed to shoot up like a rocket, and Healer Theodore's head slipped off the hand it was leaning on. "You did, now, did you?" said Dumbledore interestedly, yet there was a look of slight concern in his eyes.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"How?" Harry hesitated.  
  
"Ron told me."  
  
"He what?" asked the Healer, completely dazed.  
  
"Well, Ron talked to me while I was in a coma, he told me things and one time he said that he wondered what goes on when a person is in one. That's how I knew." A second later a white file on top of a small table appeared in the room and the Healer immediately opened it the scroll of parchment and scanned what had to be Harry's test results from drinking all of those potions.  
  
"Completely normal," stated Theodore after a while. "Except... well, there is an unusual long time of him getting used to light... it seems as if he's spent all that time in a completely dark room of some sort."  
  
"That is peculiar," said Dumbledore, frowning as he looked over Harry's file himself.  
  
"I guess it's safe for me to leave you two alone now," the Healer said and he shook hands with Dumbledore. "I'll go inform the relatives and friends." Then he was out of the room and Harry surveyed his headmaster, who was still reading the report.  
  
"Well, Harry, do you care to tell me what happened while you were out cold? Because I dare say it wasn't just an ordinary coma you were in," said Dumbledore, looking up at Harry so suddenly that Harry was a bit shocked to find himself looking in those bright blue eyes.  
  
"Erm... well..." After such a shock Harry found it hard to start up his story, but after his heart had calmed down, it was much easier and he told Dumbledore everything he remembered about the 'evil place of darkness' as he childishly called it. All the while Dumbledore listened intently and when Harry finished he remained silent for a minute or two, processing it all.  
  
"I'm sure that you know just as well as I do, Harry," began the old man, not really looking straight at Harry but more at the bed he was in. "That this was no ordinary coma." Harry nodded he understood. "Judging on how you described what you have gone through, I could take a 'wild guess' and say that this was Voldemort's last revenge... and if Ron had not talked to you, you would almost certainly have spent the rest of your life in utter isolation."  
  
"Oh," was pretty much all Harry could say. Dumbledore seemed to be lost in thought before he suddenly spoke up again.  
  
"What I find noticeable, though, is that you did not hear any other outside noises. Was it really only Ron's voice? Or did you also hear your two female friends shout whenever they tried to move." Harry shook his head.  
  
"Only Ron's voice," he answered. Dumbledore smiled.  
  
"Which only gives to show how powerful the Five really are."  
  
"But I couldn't hear Nora and Hermione shout," said Harry, confused.  
  
"No, but it was not meant for you to be able to hear Ron, either. Apparently only those of the Five with information to help you could penetrate through the powerful magic shield that had been set up around you... and that shield was doubtlessly also why none of the Healers, or myself, could revive you.  
  
"Oh." It seemed Harry was not able to say anything else than a few simple facts and "oh", but his mind was completely buzzing from everything that had happened all of a sudden, especially after so long in isolation, and all he wanted to do was sleep for a few weeks and then when he woke up, all of this would be blown over and everything would be back to normal... or at least he hoped.  
  
"I assume no one has informed you of how you landed in your coma and what happened to your friends?" said Dumbledore. Harry blinked and only then realized he couldn't have just slumped to the ground and blacked out. He shook his head.  
  
"No."  
  
"Well, then, you shall be very interested in my story, and perhaps amazed you didn't die directly," Dumbledore told him and it scared Harry that his Headmaster was not smiling, and otherwise hiding it very well. He listened, almost with aw, to the old man, who still remained very serious, though pride could be seen in his always twinkling eyes. There was a large silence after Dumbledore had told his story, and Harry was completely speechless, he could not believe how much he had missed from the time he went into a coma to the second he awoke from it.  
  
"What about the ministry?" he asked after a while. "Did they capture all of the Death Eaters?" Dumbledore nodded.  
  
"Well, the ones that didn't manage to escape."  
  
"Did they... did they get Bellatrix?"  
  
"I'm afraid they did not," replied Dumbledore, shaking his head. "She was unconscious at some point, praise to Ms. Vance, but a Death Eater revived her near the end and she escaped."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Well," said Dumbledore, getting up with slight difficulty. Harry watched him from his bed, head slightly tilted, and only now did it strike him that the old man didn't just seem aged in difficult times, but that he really was old. He was busy guessing his Headmasters age, which was what, 200? when Dumbledore spoke again. "Well, I really must be going now, lots of people I have to meet, and I'm sure you want to get back to your friends, right, Harry?" Harry nodded as Dumbledore eyed his bed and then continued, "and I can assume you will be able to walk the way back?" Harry nodded again and jumped out of his bed, only now seeing the horrible baby blue hospital pajama's he was wearing.  
  
"Where are my own clothes?" he asked desperately.  
  
"They are being held on to by the Healers until you are released. Before then this is what you'll wear," replied Dumbledore smiling. Harry thought that made his Headmaster look a whole lot younger and was now confused by the man's age. Dumbledore led them both out of the white room, through the Hospital towards the fifth floor and into the room Harry had awoken in. Unsurprisingly his friends were anxiously waiting for him and Ron was the first one to jump up and run over to his best friend, grinning broadly, as soon as Harry stepped into the room. Draco soon followed but Hermione and Nora smiled at him, sitting in their beds, being unable to move.  
  
"So, how are you?" demanded Ron a bit too excitedly.  
  
"I'm fine, I guess," replied Harry after a moment of thought. He wasn't exactly sure how he was; everything that occurred now was a bit overwhelming, making it hard for him to focus on one thing.  
  
"Well, that's great!" exclaimed Ron happily, but seeing Harry's look his face fell. "Isn't it?" he asked the others unsurely. They all shrugged, wondering what was wrong with Harry, but Dumbledore beamed at them as he steered Harry towards his new bed, which had been placed there after the Healer had rushed Harry out of the room in the other one.  
  
"Of course it is," he said as Harry got under the sheets. "But he'll need a good rest to feel even better, so please save your questions for later." Dumbledore was already walking towards the door, and his hand was already on the doorknob, before he turned around again. He chuckled upon seeing the other four peering cautiously at Harry. Dumbledore cleared his throat and their heads snapped back to him. "Before I forget: this Saturday there will be a little 'Victory Feast' held for you, as I had promised some time ago. It will not be a small gathering as the last feast, so I do hope you will dress your best."  
  
"Well, what day is it now?" asked Ron.  
  
"Monday. I hope that is enough time to have someone buy you girls a dress?" Dumbledore asked Hermione and Nora. The nodded a bit gravely, realizing someone was going to have to buy them something to wear and what if they didn't like it!? "Good," Dumbledore said and he closed the door quietly behind him. There was a slight silence before Ron broke it.  
  
"Are you going to sleep now?" he asked Harry, who had pulled the sheets up to his chin and was looking rather fearfully around the room, almost like a little child who was afraid of the dark. The four watched him for a reply and after a while Harry shook his head.  
  
"Why not?" demanded Hermione. "Harry, you heard Dumbledore, you have to get a good rest to feel better, and frankly, I think you should go to sleep too. It's for your own health." Harry watched her fold her arms but he remained silent. "Well?" she demanded. Harry shook his head again. "Why not?" she asked. Harry said nothing.  
  
"Hermione, calm down," said Ron quietly. Hermione looked at him in utter disbelief, eyebrows raised. Nora and Draco remained silent, watching the others bicker. "I bet there's a reasonable explanation why he won't speak," Ron continued, but slightly weaker under Hermione's glare.  
  
"Which would be?" she asked.  
  
"I don't know. Let's ask him, shall we?" replied Ron stupidly. "Harry?" Harry's eyes slid from Hermione to Ron. "What's wrong mate? Why don't you want to sleep?" Harry said nothing, and Ron took a step backwards, beginning to feel slightly creeped out by his best friend.  
  
"Look, Harry," said Draco firmly. Harry's eyes slid from Ron to Draco, and he too, took a step back, before taking more forward and walking up to Harry. "If you don't tell us what's wrong, we won't be able to help you." Harry looked owlishly at him before opening his mouth. The four watched him expectantly.  
  
"I'm afraid to fall asleep." There was a silence, during which Draco, Ron, Hermione and Nora tried hard to conceal their disbelief as they stared at him. Ron was the first to recover and he walked over to Harry.  
  
"Why?" he asked seriously. Harry frowned, thinking, and wondering if he wasn't acting too childish. Nora seemed to have read his mind, because she said:  
  
"Don't think we'll find it too childish. I'm sure you've got a good reason to be afraid to sleep. You can trust us, Harry."  
  
"I know I can."  
  
"Then tell us," said Ron.  
  
"It's just... well, I'm afraid I'll go back to that place of eternal darkness and that I won't be able to get out." There was another silence before Ron broke it.  
  
"But why don't you just do whatever it was that got you out of the last one?"  
  
"Incidentally, how _did_ you manage to wake up?" asked Hermione expectantly. Harry hesitated, very aware of 4 pairs of eyes boring into him with interest.  
  
"Well, every now and then I would hear someone speak to me and..."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"And the first few times this little spot of light shone from a distance whenever I thought that it sounded familiar... and sometimes, when I knew for certain that I'd once known what I was being told, the little light shone brighter and larger..."  
  
"Wait, so you knew nothing?" interrupted Nora. Harry nodded.  
  
"Not even us?" asked Ron, pouting slightly. Harry shook his head.  
  
"Your own name?" said Hermione cautiously. Harry shook his head.  
  
"So I guessed that the light and the information I received from... the voice were linked together," he went on. "And so the next times he spoke to me I would process everything he had said and I could see the light getting larger and larger, but still not close enough. And then the final conversation came where he told me about Voldemort and everything seemed to fall into place and before I'd realized it the white light was speeding towards me before sucking me into it and then I opened my eyes and I found myself staring at the ceiling in the dark." More silence.  
  
"So do you have any idea as to who the voice was?" asked Draco. Harry's eyes gave Ron a quick glance before snapping back to Draco, but he remained silent.  
  
"It was me," said Ron. "And Harry knows it." Harry smiled at his best friend, while the others frowned at him.  
  
"Wait... you talked to Harry?" Ron nodded.  
  
"When?"  
  
"Usually at night, or when I thought you guys were busy enough to not notice."  
  
"We thought you were just watching him, or otherwise saying a prayer of some sort," said Hermione thoughtfully.  
  
"But how were you able to penetrate the shield thingy Voldemort had set up? None of the Healers could," said Nora. Ron shrugged but Harry spoke for him.  
  
"Dumbledore said it had something to with the Five and the bond we have," he said. "He told me that only those who have useful information for me to get out of my coma could break through it and be heard by me."  
  
"How on earth can Dumbledore know so much," muttered Ron, ruffling his hair in slight frustration. Nora sniggered but Hermione rolled her eyes.  
  
"If you're afraid to sleep, you could ask the Healers for a dreamless sleep potion," she suggested. Harry shrugged.  
  
"But I don't want to sleep," he told her.  
  
"But you're tired," she argued, folding her arms crossly.  
  
"Am not," he muttered childishly.  
  
"Are too."  
  
"Am not."  
  
"Are too."  
  
"Am NOT."  
  
"Are TOO."  
  
"Am not."  
  
"Are too! Harry, stop acting like Ron-" There was an indignant cry of "Hey!" but she went on, undisturbed, "and take a dreamless sleep potion. It's obvious you need the rest. Everyone who has seen you would agree with me." Harry looked at his friends for backup, as did Hermione, but they did not look him straight in the eye and instead shook their heads in agreement with Hermione while peering at the peeling paint on the walls.  
  
"Fine. But you have to get it," he muttered. Hermione looked fiercely at Harry before saying:  
  
"I would, if I was able to move," she snapped. Harry gaped at her for a second, before realizing she had gotten injured during the Second War.  
  
"That's not... I meant, that I wasn't going to get it. Someone would have to for me," he muttered.  
  
"Touchy subject," Ron whispered to him and Harry nodded, having found out the hard way.  
  
"I can get," said Nora cheerfully, and she was already making to pull the covers off her when both Ron and Draco rushed over to her, pinning her down.  
  
"Oh no you don't," said Draco and Ron nodded his head in agreement. Nora folded her arms.  
  
"Why not?" she exclaimed. "I can walk, I promise! I was just having an off day, last time. Please just let me try?" she begged, trying to make the sweetest face possible.  
  
"Why, what happened last time?" asked Harry, feeling a bit annoyed that he had missed everything after the Second War.  
  
"Well, she got a bit too excited, lost her balance and fell right on top of Ron," explained Draco.  
  
"I'm fine, though," said Ron, grinning.  
  
"But Nora wasn't, so the Healer on duty confined her to the bed," said Draco. Harry saw Nora sulking and couldn't help smiling; she had always been incredibly stubborn... and sometimes a bit clumsy.  
  
"Yeah, well, you guys all overreacted. I was fine!" she argued. Draco looked at her in disbelief and Ron shook his head.  
  
"It hurt so much, she cried," he told Harry, who rolled his eyes.  
  
"I'll be more careful now. Please, let me try and walk! I really, really, _really_ want to," she begged.  
  
"No way," said Draco and he and Ron left her in her bed and got the Healing Potion themselves.  
  
"At least you were awake," said Harry consolingly. Nora shrugged, annoyed that they were treating her like a fragile baby. Ron and Draco returned soon enough with a steaming goblet of dreamless sleep potion and within five minutes Harry was in a deep slumber, snoring gently.

It was snowing fiercely and Harry stood in the middle of the whiteness with the wind swirling snowflakes around him. He wondered what this was before it dawned on him that it was snowing in June. He looked around but the falling snow was blocking the majority of his view and whatever it was he would be able to see was covered in a thick layer of the white powder. He was beginning to feel scared again, as if someone had put him in that 'dark space' once more, but he could hear this time. The wind was howling, his footsteps made crunching noises in the still untouched snow and then a third sound added to it. A noise that sent chills down his spine. It was something he had heard many times before; a laugh, no, more of a cackle... a high-pitched one that Voldemort used to make... but Voldemort was gone now, dead, Harry knew that, but he still wasn't assured. The cackle died down and Harry remained standing completely still in the falling snow for a few more seconds before he slowly woke up. He made to tell Ron and the others immediately, but when he opened his eyes Mrs. Weasley rushed over to him and enveloped him in a big hug and every thought of his dream/nightmare was driven out of his mind, though he should not have had a dream/nightmare at all.  
  
Harry was dreading when he'd have to tell Mrs. Weasley and the other parents about his coma, but fortunately Dumbledore had already done it for him and all he had to do was answer questions like, "Weren't you scared, dear?" "Did he hurt you?" and "Does anybody here have a comb?" For once Harry wasn't annoyed by everyone fussing over him and he let them get on with it as they pleased while he tried to imprint their faces in his memory forever, especially that of Mrs. Weasley, since she cared for him like a mother would for her son.

The next few days nothing much happened. The families of the Five visited every day for a few hours before leaving again. The Five themselves did nothing much out of respect for Hermione, since she still couldn't leave the bed without hurting herself. Nora had finally recovered but instead of walking around like she wanted to while confined to the bed, she was plastered to Draco and they were hardly seen apart.  
  
During the week Parvati and Lavender had come to bring Nora and Hermione the dresses, which they had bought them on the boys' orders, for the 'Victory Feast'. The two girls were happy with their dress, though they had preferred to buy it themselves, having not been among people for such a long time. After have chatted a little Parvati had had a small conversation with Harry and even though there was a lack of yelling she left with tear- filled eyes and Harry was frowning out the window, his arms tightly folded.  
  
Dumbledore had visited as often as he could, but he hardly had anything interesting to share, except that he had printed the events of the Second War in the _Daily Prophet_ and given each a copy to read. They found it pretty good and wondered what everyone's reaction would be, but that soon wore off and they were left with nothing to do or talk about, since they had pretty much discussed everything, having been stuck together for so long. Needless to say, the days leading up to the Feast had been quiet boring and they couldn't wait until the day came that both Harry and Hermione were allowed to leave the hospital.  
  
_A/N_: Yes, I know, the last part is pretty fast forward, but otherwise it'd take too long and I've already cut this chapter in half because I just couldn't make you guys wait any longer. I hope you liked it. And the next chapter is probably going take a long to write as well, because my last end- of-term exams are coming up and I really can't afford to slack off.  
  
**Athenakitty** – Yes, Harry does wake up, I didn't really want to kill him off, cuz that'd be mean. I actually don't know myself when Voldie's power will actually be destroyed, we'll just have to wait and see. Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Dumbeldave** – You'll be surprised to know that 'astoundingly' is a word, haha. =D Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**(ES)** – Yeah, I know, sorry, but I'm just not good at writing battle scenes. I'm glad to hear you liked the rest, though. Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Misdimeanor** – Wish I could be Nora too, sigh. If you've read up to here, you'll know Harry is awake and completely healthy. I didn't want to kill him, cuz that'd have been mean. Besides, too many people have died in my story already. =D Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Liberate** – I know there are many things in my story that don't make sense at all, but keep in mind that I'm nothing like J.K. Rowling and just writing this story for fun and to keep myself away from the TV. I'll try to change the completely wrong things when I go over this story when it's finished. Thanks for reading and reviewing. 


	48. False Tribute

_A/N_: Mwuahahaha! I passed! I passed! I'm off to my second last year of school! Mwuahaha. (Sorry this took so long, please don't hurt me.)  
  
**Chapter 48: False Tribute**  
  
On Saturday morning, even before the sun had come out, Nora sat up in her bed frowning. She didn't exactly know what to do after having such a peculiar dream. Well it wasn't really that odd, it would've been quite normal, actually, if not for that one little thing. She lay back down and stared at the ceiling, still frowning. She was anxious now. Anxious and confused... all because of one silly dream.  
  
Nora wondered what Draco would say if she told him. Would he laugh or would he be hurt? After all, he wasn't in it. She was having the most wonderful dream of her having a perfect family, wonderful kids, great husband, lots of money... and he wasn't in it. Instead there was this dark- haired man with a lovely smile. She knew it wasn't Draco, given that he had white hair and, well, his smile could do with improvement, since he hadn't smiled that much in his life. She wondered how he would react if she told him. ----If---- she told him. With a sigh she closed her eyes and tried to suppress the dream, but a part of her wanted to see that delightful life again and it won, so when she dozed off again, the dream continued.

* * *

Harry awoke to find the room full of people again, but instead of just the parents, all the brothers and sisters and friends were there too, and in one case, the daughter of the favorite cousin of the one person Harry wished was there. But before he was given the chance to think about Sirius, Tonks bounded over, nearly knocking over Neville who had come to visit too, and gave him a quick hug. Her hair was a lavender color and Harry had to get used to it, having not seen her in some time.  
  
Next Mrs. Weasley walked over, a comb in one hand and a pot of Mr. Sleeky's Super Strong Gel in the other. Harry looked at it in disbelief. How could she be worrying about his hair now!?  
  
"Hello, dear," she said sweetly. Putting the pot of gel on his side table, before combing his hair rather roughly. "Let's get this straightened out once and for all, shall we? What with these visitors around. And there's the Feast this evening, of course, so you'll have to look absolutely handsome." Harry blushed as Mrs. Weasley slapped a handful of gel in his hair before tackling it with the comb again.  
  
After five minutes she stood back and eyed the result critically. "Well, it's a bit better," she said. Harry knew it would never last, but he said nothing, since his hair had put Ron's mother in a bad mood already. When she left, though, he carefully put a hand on his head and tried to feel the result. By the way his hair felt, he thought it looked glued down wherever possible with a greasy shine on it. He grimaced, not wanting anyone to see him like this, but he left his hair alone all the same, doing Mrs. Weasley a favor.  
  
Harry got out of bed and walked quietly to Ron, trying to get around unnoticed, since he was still wearing the ridiculous hospital pajamas.  
  
"What is it?" asked Ron when Harry had tapped him on the shoulder.  
  
"Where are my clothes?" Ron shrugged.  
  
"Dunno. I think the Healers have them somewhere."  
  
"Well, then, help me look for them. I'm not going to walk around in this all day." And Harry dragged Ron out of the room with him and over to the first Healer they found.  
  
Five minutes later he was wearing his own comfortable clothes, which the Hospital had dry-cleaned and ironed, making it look so neat, he almost didn't want to unfold them. When Harry and Ron walked back into the room everyone was standing in a circle around Hermione, who was beaming, and the two pushed their way through to see what so interesting.  
  
"Hermione!" yelled Ron, pointing at her. "You're standing!" Hermione beamed even more, nodding. Harry thought it was so brilliant seeing her stand there so proudly, that he decided to overlook the fact that she had to lean on Nora for some support. Hermione's father, unlike all the others who were laughing, clapping and praising her, seemed to have the slightest hint of sadness in his look. Harry wondered why, only to realize idiotically that her mother wasn't here to see it. He then wondered what that was like, only to remember in frustration at his own stupidity, that _both_ his parents were dead, as well as his godfather.  
  
"What's wrong, mate?" asked Ron, seeing Harry's frustrated frown. Immediately Harry's face relaxed a little.  
  
"Nothing," he replied, distracted. "I was just... being a bit stupid." Ron had no idea what he meant, but nodded all the same and decided to let it go. Unfortunately, Hermione couldn't last very long standing, and she had to lie back in bed with everyone reassuring her that she would be able to stand longer than a couple of minutes at the Feast that evening.  
  
The big party stayed for a bit longer, but when the Healers insisted that Hermione got her rest, they were forced to leave and left a small heap of presents on one of the side tables. Five minutes later the five were already bored out of their skulls and couldn't think of anything to do but wonder what the Feast would be like, later that night.  
  
"I wonder if we get a reward for destroying Voldie... you know, like money," said Ron, lying on his stomach on his bed, a hopeful glint in his eye.  
  
"I doubt it," said Draco sullenly. "Fudge'll probably just shake our hands, say we did a good job saving millions of innocent lives and tell us that's reward enough, the cheapskate."  
  
"I guess," agreed Ron. "I mean, you never really know with Fudge. Up until last summer he wouldn't even believe Voldemort was back." They all stayed quiet, feeling at last that the large weight that had been sitting on their shoulders was lifted. For the first time they could all relax and stay calm. But it was a tense silence during which Ron noticed Hermione sighing 5 times, Harry sniffing twice, Nora studying Draco, as if comparing him, and Draco staring aimlessly around him, looking detached. Therefore he asked:  
  
"What's wrong you guys?" It was funny to see all four heads look up at him at the same time, but their looks took his amusement away and he worried why they were so sad and he was not. He could tell Nora was having the hardest time of them all, and that Hermione wasn't going to answer either, so he kept looking at either Harry or Draco.  
  
"Don't worry, Ron," said Harry. "It's not your fault."  
  
"But then why are you all looking so sad?" he asked desperately. Life was beginning to look like an extremely bad prank. Harry hesitated. How to explain so that Ron could understand? Not that his best friend was dumb, he just wasn't as perceptive as others. But Draco had already found a way, and said:  
  
"Call it... survivors guilt, if you will. We're alive... others are not." Ron's expression changed to one of understanding, but it didn't take long before he too become rather depressed.  
  
When a Healer came in to check up on them, she did a double take, looking at the disheartened children. Fortunately she only gave Hermione her medicine before leaving again, not saying a single thing.  
  
"Look, you guys," said Ron a bit later, rolling off his bed and positioning himself in the middle of the room. "I know you're all sad about those who were killed, but you can't spend the whole day like this. It's not your fault they died. I say we go outside among the people for the first time since... erm, February, and have a good time before the feast." But his friends weren't as excited about the idea as Ron was and frowned in frustration. "Come on!" he said.  
  
"Well, _I_ wouldn't mind," said Draco shrugging, not noticing Nora was still studying him.  
  
"Good. Harry?"  
  
"Well, I guess it'd be nice to walk through Diagon Alley again, but Hermione still has some trouble, remember?" Ron thought this over, before saying:  
  
"But she has the Amulet. That should give her enough strength and besides, we'll support her."  
  
"Do you think you're up to it?" Harry asked her, and Hermione nodded eagerly. "All right then. Nora?" But Nora was now the only one left who wasn't enthused by the idea of visiting Diagon Alley or any other alley in London. Only Hermione really knew why, Nora was probably emotionally the weakest of them all at this point, but she said nothing about that and instead begged her to come.  
  
"I mean, I can't go if you don't. You're the one who has to keep me standing upright, since those three will probably be goggling at the Quidditch supplies. Please come. Please?" Nora sighed and nodded.  
  
"All right," she said. "All right, I'll go too." Hermione beamed at her best friend.  
  
Fifteen minutes later they were standing in front of the Healer on duty and begging her to let them outside. She called Dumbledore who, after having been pleaded as well, allowed them to visit Diagon Alley.  
  
"But only Diagon Alley. Don't you five go anywhere else in London. I'll have one of the Aurors in an invisibility cloak so he can keep an eye on everything."  
  
"Great. Voldemort's dead and I'm still being watched over," muttered Harry as they walked down the steps.  
  
"Well, there might still be Death Eaters lurking around," said Hermione, who was being supported by Nora and Ron.  
  
"Even so, I can take care of myself by now," he argued as they stepped into the warm summer air.  
  
"It's better to be safe than sorry," Hermione told him, leading the way through London.

* * *

_A/N_: All right, I've got plenty of time now to write, but writer's block is keeping me in a death grip so sorry if this chapter is a bit lame. Oh, and I really hate fanfictions Quick Edit.

* * *

When all five had stepped through the opening in the brick wall, they gazed at Diagon Alley with glints in their eyes, looking at the shops and desiring to go inside, but after a small argument, they headed for the pearly white building towering over the smaller stores.  
  
A Goblin let them inside and another took them to Harry's vault, after he had shown yet another one his vault key. After a sickeningly quick ride, which Draco did not enjoy, they were let inside Harry's vault and Ron's mouth fell open in awe as he saw all the Galleons, Sickles and Knuts in a large heap on the floor.  
  
"That's all _yours_!?" He asked jealously. Harry shrugged and filled his pockets up with some of his money before standing up again and noticing the others, except Draco, watching him with envy.  
  
"You can take some too, if you want," he told them.  
  
"Sorry, but I don't accept charity," said Ron, folding his arms.  
  
"Don't be so stupid, Ron," snapped Harry back. "This is way too much money for me, and Sirius' vault is still full of it too, so just take some. You can too," he told the other three. Hermione shrugged and scooped some money up, followed by Nora. Ron eyed them and then slowly bent down to pick up some of the money as well. Harry turned to Draco who sighed and filled his pocket too.  
  
"Thanks," he mumbled. Harry smiled before they all clambered back into the cart, Hermione being helped in by Ron and Draco being dragged in by Nora.  
  
Once outside again in the fresh air, Draco stood bent over with his hands on his knees, panting, looking paler than normally, and Nora rubbed his back consolingly as Hermione and Ron argued about where to go next.  
  
"Quidditch supplies."  
  
"No, Flourish and Blotts."  
  
"Quidditch!"  
  
"Flourish and Blotts!"  
  
"How about we get some ice-cream first?" suggested Harry. Ron shrugged; food was just a good as Quidditch, but Hermione huffed, mad that Harry never took her side.  
  
"Fine," she grumbled. So they made their way to Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlor and sat down at a table in the sun. After ordering, they just watched the people walking by, observing them, while waiting for their ice cream.  
  
When Hermione and Nora had finally finished their sundaes, Harry, Ron and Draco had finished theirs long ago, they got up and walked back down the street. Of course as soon as they reached the Quidditch store the boys were glued to the front window, admiring the newest Quidditch broom, like many others, and Nora was left looking back and forth from the store to Hermione, who'd rather visit Flourish and Blotts. Not being able to decide, Nora took the more intelligent approach, and decided to go to the bookstore with Hermione, since she needed someone to look after her.  
  
"And I don't understand them," Hermione rattled as they entered the dusty and unventilated bookstore. "I mean, can't they, for once, act like intellectual human beings? Or is that too much to ask for?"  
  
"It is," replied Nora, nodding with fake sadness. Hermione slapped her arm and dragged her to the deserted area, which contained thick books, covered in equally thick layers of dust.  
  
"I've been dying to go here again, ever since I saw this great book lying around last summer," said Hermione in awe, her eyes searching the shelves. Nora, however, was not as enthused and whispered:  
  
"I don't think anyone's been here for ages. Maybe we'll find someone's skeleton down the next isle." Hermione sniggered, but almost immediately put and finger to her lips and said "shhh!" Nora raised and eyebrow at Hermione's action, but then decided to ignore it and let her search for the book. Hermione kept doing better the longer they were out of the stuffy Hospital and soon she needed no support at all.  
  
One hour later they were standing outside in the fresh summer air again, Hermione proudly holding one of the thickest books Nora had ever seen. When they reached the other three at the Quidditch store, Ron's jaw dropped to the floor as he goggled at the book.  
  
"A History Through Time, _Written by Merlin_," read Harry from the cover. "How much did that thing cost?"  
  
"9 Galleons, 14 Sickles and 21 Knuts. It was a bargain!" replied Hermione enthusiastically.  
  
"And that's not all!" added Nora with fake eagerness. "Tell 'em what it does, 'Mione!" Hermione, on the other hand, seemed to have missed the sarcasm and told Harry, Ron and Draco how the book written by Merlin covers the entire history of the Wizard world in detail and that it contained pictures of some of the most gruesome events. ("Cool!" shouted Ron.) And, apparently, the book updated itself.  
  
"So it'll have the whole war with Voldemort described, too," she finished.  
  
"Can I have a look at the pictures?" asked Ron, casually making for the book, but Hermione would have nothing of it and held the book behind her back. When they had begun walking again, they had no idea where to go, since they hadn't received a list of school supplies yet, and decided to just wander around Diagon Alley. Not five minutes later Ron spotted Lavender and Parvati on the other side of the road and he hurried over to them, while Harry deliberately looked the other way. After a couple of minutes of... er... talking Ron came back with a flush on his face and said:  
  
"Right, let's keep going, shall we?" and he hurried off, his friends sniggering as they followed.  
  
The longer they wandered around Diagon Alley, the more clear it became that all the money they had taken out of Harry's vault was unnecessary, for the only things they bought, apart from Hermione's big book, was more ice-cream and a new quill for Ginny, since Ron had stolen hers.  
  
At 3 o'clock they slumped down onto a bench, completely exhausted, and looked aimlessly around them.  
  
"So what now?" asked Harry, turning his head to look at the others. They all shrugged as he thought they would.  
  
"Well, what time does this Feast start?" asked Hermione. "I mean, we'll need to get back in time to take a shower and change and stuff."  
  
"Dumbledore didn't say," answered Draco, playing with Nora's hair. "But I'm guessing no sooner than six."  
  
"Well, I say we head back. There's nothing to do here anyway," said Nora.  
  
"I agree," said Ron, who was leaning against her, unable to keep upright. "So how do we get back? I'm way too tired to walk."  
  
"Well, we can't use the form of Apparation," said Hermione.  
  
"Why not?" demanded Ron.  
  
"Because, first of all, it's illegal, and second of all, being as tired as we are, we might leave an arm here, or worse."  
  
"I'll risk it," replied Ron.  
  
"No, you will not," said Hermione. Ron moaned but stood anyway.  
  
By the time they got back to St. Mungo's it was already 4 o'clock and even with the slow tempo at which they had been walking, all five were now completely worn out and wished nothing than to fall asleep right there on that shiny white floor of the reception. Of course the member of the Order that had been watching them had already told Dumbledore that they had arrived and their Headmaster Apparated into the hall, forcing them to stay awake.  
  
"So, you five had a wonderful day in Diagon Alley, I presume?" He smiled at them, but they only glared in return, which he didn't mind, since he was a Headmaster, and therefore used to adolescent responses. "Right," he continued. "Well, I thought I should inform you that the Feast begins promptly at six o'clock and that you will be taken to the Burrow to freshen up and from there arrive at the Ministry by Portkey. I have informed Molly already, and she said she'd be happy to take you all in-"  
  
"What, even me?" interrupted Draco. Dumbledore smiled and nodded.  
  
"Yes, Draco, you too."  
  
"And you're sure about that?"  
  
"I am absolutely positive. I believe her exact words were: 'And Draco too, of course. The poor thing. He's been through so much even before this whole incident with You-Know-Who.' Convinced? Good. Now, there's a Ministry car outside which will take you to the Burrow. If there's anything still in your room on the fifth floor, get it quickly and you five will be off."  
  
Ten minutes later scenery was passing swiftly as the enlarged car rolled towards Ron's home. When they pulled up to the front of the house, Mrs. Weasley was standing outside in an apron, rubbing her hands clean on it and peering anxiously into the car. Of course, as soon as he got out of the car she pulled Ron into a tight hug and kissed him everywhere on his face as he struggled to break free. Next was Harry, who for once didn't mind, since he did not have a mother of his own to smother him with affection after a horrible ordeal, and after that came Hermione and Nora. When Draco was the only one standing by the car, Mrs. Weasley took a good look at him and for a second it seemed she was going to shake his hand, but then she pulled him too into a tight hug before shunting them all into the house, which Draco observed with awe.  
  
"I've cooked a small meal for you five to eat before freshening up, so I hope you're hungry," Mrs. Weasley told them with a smile. They all nodded and took a seat at the table and were soon joined by Ginny, Fred, George and Mr. Weasley, who seemed a bit surprised to see Draco sitting there as well.  
  
When the wonderful dinner was over, Mrs. Weasley told them that Nora and Hermione would be sharing the bathroom on Ginny's floor with Ginny to freshen up and that the bathroom on Ron's floor would be for Ron, Harry and Draco to use.  
  
"Don't mind the ghoul in the attic," mumbled Ron when the three of them entered his room with loud banging coming from above. Draco noticed that Ron's room was a very violent shade of orange; even the ceiling was covered with it. Ron watched Draco as he looked around in interest.  
  
"I bet it's nothing like your room, which has to be huge, but-"  
  
"I like your room much better. I was never allowed to hang posters up in my room, let alone have a fish tank full of frogspawn in my window sill," interrupted Draco, smiling as he looked out of the window, which had a view of the untidy backyard. Harry grinned as Ron's ears turned red.  
  
"Thanks," was all he could say.  
  
"So who gets the bathroom first?" asked Draco, turning around to face the other two.  
  
"You can use it first, then Harry will, and I'll go last. Unless you want a different order." But Harry and Draco agreed to Ron's first suggestion and Draco was shown the bathroom, which consisted of a small turquoise room, containing a rather large shower, a pink towel rack that seemed to be able to walk and a blue counter with the sink.  
  
"Brilliant!" said Draco when he entered. Ron's ears turned red again.  
  
Draco finished quickly enough, leaving more time for Harry, but he too finished sooner than expected and because Ron didn't feel like taking too long either, the three of them were already groomed and dressed by quarter to five.  
  
"I bet the girls are nowhere near getting dressed," said Ron as he sat down on his bed, which groaned slightly under his weight.  
  
"Yeah," sighed Draco. "They always take too long."  
  
"We can always go wait downstairs. Maybe we'll find something to do there," suggested Harry. Ron and Draco nodded.  
  
"I just hope it isn't chores," muttered Ron as they walked down the stairs.  
  
"Hello dears," said Mrs. Weasley when they entered the living where she was cleaning. "Oh, don't you three look ever so handsome." Ron's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he looked at his mother in disbelief and utter embarrassment, but Harry and Draco grinned; their mothers had never had the chance to say such things to them.  
  
"Hello there," said Mr. Weasley brightly as he entered the living room as well and took a seat on the sofa. "The girls aren't done yet, I see. Well, what can you expect?" Mrs. Weasley shot him a sharp look but he just smiled in return.  
  
Not much later Fred and George bounded down the stairs and entered looking surprisingly, and suspiciously, neat wearing their dress robes. Mrs. Weasley had noticed as well and she walked up to them, demanding they empty their pockets.  
  
"Mother, we are deeply ashamed of you," said Fred innocently.  
  
"How are we supposed to go through life, knowing our own _mother_ doesn't even trust us?" added George, shaking his head sadly.  
  
"Isn't it possible that we-"  
  
"For _once_,"  
  
"Leave our pranks aside to attend this Feast with sympathy?"  
  
"You've hurt us deeply, mother-"  
  
"If that is even who you really are." Draco followed this with great interest and he would've been fooled by this brilliant act but of course Mrs. Weasley was used to this and she said:  
  
"Accio!" while pointing her wand at the twins' dress robes. Instantly all sorts of items came flying out and when everything was on the floor in front Mrs. Weasley's feet, Fred and George grinned at Harry.  
  
"Always worth trying, isn't it?" said George before they headed back upstairs, no doubt planning to try again. Mrs. Weasley shook her head sadly when they were gone.  
  
"Whatever will become of those two?"  
  
"Well, you've got to admit, mum, they do make loads of money with triple W," argued Ron.  
  
"Triple W?" asked Draco confused.  
  
"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes," explained Ron. "It's this joke shop they've got, selling all sorts of stuff they've invented."  
  
"Oh, right. I've been to their shop once. It was pretty ingenious. They had masses of cool things." Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips, not too happy that her two sons were so successful in doing something she despised.  
  
Half past five Hermione, Nora and Ginny finally came downstairs, but as usual waiting paid off, seeing as they look fabulous. Fred and George, who once again looked suspiciously innocent, though Mrs. Weasley could find nothing hidden in their pockets or anywhere else, followed the three girls.  
  
"All right," said Mr. Weasley, getting up from the sofa. "Now this portkey," he waved the grimy sock in his hand around a bit, "is set to leave at twenty to six, giving you –" he looked at his watch, "seven minutes to perfect your clothing and go the bathroom and so on. I want you back here at thirty-eight past five sharp, got it?" They all nodded and Ginny went to the bathroom, while the others tried to perfect their hair and clothing.  
  
They were all waiting nervously in the living room again a minute later, but hardly anyone said a word. Two minutes before the portkey would take them to the Ministry, Mr. Weasley told them all to stand in a circle and put one finger each on the portkey. They were rather reluctant to touch the dirty thing, which had a foul smell, but each put a finger on it and sooner than expected came the familiar uncomfortable tug at their bellybutton.  
  
Hermione, Nora and Ginny immediately toppled over when they slammed into the marble floor in the Atrium, due to their high-heels. Harry, Ron and Draco had some trouble keeping upright, but Fred, George and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley kept their balance and helped the three girls up. Apparating would've been the easier way to go, since they all knew how, but Mr. Weasley had thought it safer, and more legal, to use a portkey instead.  
  
"Where to now?" asked Fred, looking excited.  
  
"Upstairs, top floor, Ballroom," replied Mr. Weasley, heading towards the elevators. They heard a pop behind them and when they turned around, Percy was hurrying down the hall towards them.  
  
"Hello Mother, Father," he said, walking over to Mrs. Weasley to give her a kiss and managing to avoid the foot George had stuck out to trip him. While they were waiting for the elevator, Ron looked suspiciously at Fred and George.  
  
"What are you two up to?" he asked them. They both grinned.  
  
"We've invented something new," said Fred.  
  
"Yeah, it completely disorientates the consumer,"  
  
"And they become dazed for about ten minutes as if they've just been whacked on the head with a sledge hammer."  
  
"We call them: 'Bamboozles'." Ron raised an eyebrow.  
  
"What kind of a name is that?"  
  
"Well, actually, Ron, it's a word," stated Hermione. "Bamboozle means either to deceive or confuse."  
  
"Very good Hermione," said George, slapping her on the shoulder. At that point, a rattle told them that the elevator had arrived and they all got in, being forced to squish against each other when Neville and his grandmother, who was wearing a particularly ugly hat, stepped in as well.  
  
"Hello Mrs. Longbottom, Neville," said Mr. Weasley. Neville's grandmother gave him a curt nod, while Neville said:  
  
"Hi." The others greeted him as well. Seconds later the elevator came to a halt and they all stepped out into a hall as splendid as the Atrium. It was filled with more early arrivers who were all making their ways towards the end of the hall, so they decided to do the same. The colossal room was already half full when they entered, and unlike the Feast before the Second War which had been only for Hogwarts students, the ballroom was now filled with numerous unfamiliar people, some from the Ministry, others complete families who had lived in fear of Voldemort for years.  
  
"We're sitting over here," said Mrs. Weasley, ripping Harry from his thoughts. Their whole party took a seat at one of the largest tables near the middle and Harry continued from his seat to look around the room, watching all the people.  
  
"So whose seats are those?" asked Percy, indicating towards all the gaps between them.  
  
"They're for the reporters, of course," replied Fred at once.  
  
"Yeah, everyone will be wanting an interview with the five little heroes," added George. He and Fred grinned. Percy however scowled at them.  
  
"Don't be silly you two," said Mrs. Weasley. "Two seats are for Bill and Charlie and the others are for Mr. Granger, the Glassyds and Mrs. Malfoy. They'll be here soon I expect."  
  
"I think mum would prefer it if you called her Ms. Black," said Draco politely. Mrs. Weasley nodded in understanding while Ron, on the other side of the table, choked in his water and nearly sprayed it all over the table. Everyone in the vicinity looked at him as he spluttered:  
  
"_Black_!? As in Sirius Black? As in Harry's Godfather?"  
  
"Well, not anymore, really," said Harry, but Ron impatiently waved his hand so he could hear Draco's reply.  
  
"Well, yeah. I mean, all pureblood wizards are pretty much related, aren't they?" Percy nodded fervently.  
  
"Yes. Our," he indicated to himself, his brothers and Ginny, "parents, are both somehow related to Sirius.  
  
"Wow, so you'll be marrying the son of the sister of Sirius' favorite cousin," whispered Harry to Nora. "That's even more difficult than describing Tonks."  
  
"What, she's related to him too?" asked Hermione interestedly, having heard what Harry had said. He nodded.  
  
"She's his favorite cousin's daughter." Nora looked perplex.  
  
"Wow, and I wouldn't even be able to _recognize_ my cousins if my life depended on it. I've only seen them like, what, two, three times?" Bill and Charlie had arrived a minute before and they were already busy discussing the joke shop with the Twins. Not a second later arrived the others who hurriedly took a seat.  
  
When everyone had arrived and taken their seats Dumbledore, standing on a platform at the front of the room, cleared his throat and said:  
  
"Thank you all very much for coming to this banquet. I have one last announcement before Cornelius Fudge will begin with the opening. As you all know, many have perished at the hands of Voldemort. Therefore a Funeral will be held tomorrow, beginning at twelve o'clock. You will receive the position later. I dearly hope you will all be present to honor them. But tonight will not be one of remorse, for tonight's feast is to mark Voldemort's demise and our victory." There was a loud applause, which seemed to stop as fast as possible when Fudge got on the podium.  
  
"Lousy speech, don't you think?" Ron whispered to Harry a minute later.  
  
"Can hardly keep my eyes open," came his reply, for Fudge's speech consisted mostly of how Voldemort affected the economy and politics of Britain, which was nowhere near as 'interesting' as it sounded. There was a dull applause when he finally finished and people got up to mingle, most of the crowd heading straight towards Dumbledore, after having been ordered to leave the Five alone.  
  
"Now's our chance to talk to him," Hermione told Nora and the two of them pushed their way through the crowd towards their Headmaster. Harry, Ron and Draco were vaguely wondering what the two girls were up to, but at that point Mrs. Weasley made Ron keep an eye on Ginny, and Mrs. Glassyd asked Harry if he was so kind to watch over Lily while they socialized with some of the other mothers. Harry didn't mind of course but Ron grumbled and told Ginny to stay at least 10 meters away so no one would know he was stuck babysitting his little sister. Ginny of course folded her arms and glared at him with a look of make-me-you-moron, but when Ron made for his wand, there was nothing for her to do but leave, since he was of age.  
  
After a while it became visible that the crowd had split into two types: those who were doing as Dumbledore had said and celebrating their victory and those who weren't and instead standing sadly off to the side. The Five were torn between mourning and trying to have fun, but the more people congratulated them without mentioning the help of those who sacrificed their lives, the more they edged towards mourning, feelings of fury bubbling up inside them. Why wasn't anyone honoring those who had died trying to help them, or those who had just been murdered for no reason!? Their parents offered no comfort at all, acting just like the others: tactless. And treating them like little children, when it was obvious that they were anything but, having been forced to face so much horror at such a young age. Hermione almost blew up in front of a group of Ministry workers if Terry, who had come to the Feast as well, hadn't rushed her away and calmed her down.  
  
But the longer the Feast continued, the more of a success it turned out to be. People got to share their horror stories of what Voldemort did to them and other victims listened intently before sharing their account. The Hogwarts students were all searching around for their friends and Fudge was blushing a deep, deep red when being congratulated by numerous people for his strong actions during the Second war and the time before it.  
  
"That rotten freeloading dung beetle," muttered Hermione under her breath upon seeing this. "We go through all this and he gets rewarded!?"  
  
"We're being rewarded, too, Hermione," said Ron.  
  
"Yes, but that's because we were active during the Second War. Fudge didn't do a single thing! For all we know he was hiding under his bed with a security blanket," she growled. Ron smiled at the thought of it.  
  
Everyone else, though, even the mourners from the beginning, were having a pretty good time by now and the Five were separated by their parents, who wanted to show their children off, not noticing, because the Five hid it, that their children were sad, disappointed and, worst of all, feeling very much alone.

* * *

After the Feast the Five went back to the Burrow and were ordered straight to bed by Mrs. Weasley, since it was already somewhere in the middle of the night. Nora and Hermione slept in Ginny's room as usual and Harry's bed had to be moved over so Draco's could fit in Ron's room as well.  
  
When all of them were finally lying under the covers and the light had been turned off, it remained silent. Though they usually would've talked about everything that had happened that day in the comfort of their beds, it remained silent that night, even if they were all still awake, dreading the Funeral tomorrow and whatever else the future would bring them.

* * *

_A/N_: Not long, definitely not brilliant and still it took one hell of a long time to write. Terribly sorry and I hope you all have some patience left to wait for the next chapter. At least I've already thought of its main point. And the next chapter will also be the last, sadly enough. Sniff Sniff. After that will come an authors note in which I thank you all and stuff, it's not really of interest. But I'm really sad that this story is almost over... and it took me less than a year! =D (I'm still sad though.) Oh, and if you see any words like this: ----bla---- they're supposed to be in cursive, which i have to do in Quick Edit (hmpf) and the little lines make 'em easier to spot, so i don't have to read everything again.  
  
**Dumbeldave** – The tests went GREAT! Well... not exactly great, but I passed! Yay for me =D Sorry I made you wait so long. Thanks for reading and reviewing! (I say that every time, I know, but I'm _very_ thankful!)  
  
**Peachy-stalcup** – Thanks. A few people have already told me as well, but I keep forgetting to change it, hehe. Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Funness** – I can't believe you liked the first chapter! Most people think it's a bit too much, with Hermione's dad, which you guessed right by the way, I'm a bit predictable, hehe, but I hope you'll continue liking my story! Especially since there are some impossible things in there. =D Thanks for reading and reviewing! 


	49. The End

_A/N_: Just a slight warning: I _will _be putting lyrics in this chapter, but I have to, for the effect. And you must read the lyrics. Hope you guys don't mind, though. And, uhm, what else... oh right, I'm trying to make this chapter very sad since it's the end of my story and it's never been very cheery anyway. But don't worry if you don't burst into tears; I won't be hurt.  
  
**Chapter 49: The End  
**  
The next morning Mrs. Weasley woke all the children up rather early, at eight o'clock.  
  
"Aw, mum!" groaned Ron as she opened the curtains and let sunshine pour into the room, blinding everyone as it reflected off of the orange walls.  
  
"Up you get," Mrs. Weasley said, ignoring the complaints. "I've got some chores for you children to do. You know, Ron, you could make yourself useful for once, instead of sleeping in late every day and doing nothing at all." Ron just glared at her. "Now. You'll go downstairs to have a healthy breakfast first and then de-gnome the garden. It hasn't been done in ages and they're really getting out of hand, that lot." The three boys grumbled as they tried to sit up and she left the room to wake up the girls and Fred and George.  
  
Fifteen minutes later the whole group was downstairs, seated at the kitchen table, enjoying the large breakfast Mrs. Weasley had prepared. Halfway through Mr. Weasley hurried downstairs in his bathrobe, carrying a tattered briefcase with all sorts of paperwork piling out of it.  
  
"Hi honey," he said, giving Mrs. Weasley a hasty kiss. "Hi everyone." He waved at the lot sitting in his kitchen. "Emergency at the office," he explained before Disapparating.  
  
"ARTHUR!" shouted Mrs. Weasley. A second later he appeared again, blushing.  
  
"I don't think anyone saw me except the security guard," he said, before Apparating upstairs to change into his work robes. When all the plates were cleared Mrs. Weasley shoved them all out into the garden and then went back inside to clean up.  
  
"Right. So the sooner we get this over with, the more time we'll have to do something more interesting," said Fred, peering around the garden.  
  
"I think _this_ is interesting," said Harry. Draco nodded.  
  
"Yeah. I've never seen a de-gnoming. Dad always hired someone to get rid of them," he said. "Or he just tortured them until none were willing to come back," he added thoughtfully.  
  
"I don't think I've seen a de-gnoming either," said Nora, holding Draco's hand. "We live in a Muggle area so we didn't get them very often. Maybe once or twice, but dad always called someone to get rid of them, because we couldn't really fling them over the fence into our neighbour's yard."  
  
"So wait, you throw those poor, defenceless creatures over the fence!?" said Hermione. "I believe that's a horrible violation of gnome- rights." As she rattled on about S.P.E.W. Fred, George, Ron, Harry and Ginny began searching for the gnomes and when Nora and Draco had figured out how to do it, they joined in.  
  
"This isn't that bad," Nora told Fred, watching her last gnome fly thirty feet into the air, before landing on top of another one.  
  
"Well, it gets dull when you've done this your whole life," he replied.  
  
"You have got to stop! I don't know why the Ministry of Magic doesn't make this barbaric exploit illegal," shouted Hermione, hands on her hips. But she was so busy talking about S.P.E.W. that she didn't notice one of the gnomes that had been watching the de-gnoming, sneak up on her. Hermione's shriek filled the air as she was bitten in her leg and she glared down on it with fierce eyes before kicking it as hard as she could.  
  
"Wow, Hermione. That had to be at least forty feet!" said George impressed as he watched the gnome land.  
  
"Feel any different about de-gnoming yet?" asked Ron grinning. Hermione didn't reply, though she did feel less sympathetic for the hideous creatures now that she had little teeth marks in her leg.

* * *

When all of the gnomes in the garden had been tossed over the fence, the eight of them went back inside.  
  
"I can't believe that took a whole hour," grumbled Ginny, for it was now half past nine.  
  
"Yeah, and I bet mum's got loads more chores for us to do, too," said Ron.  
  
"Complete waste of precious time," agreed Fred. Of course, they lived in the Burrow, which meant their speculations were right, for Mrs. Weasley entered the kitchen and upon seeing them just sitting about, she said:  
  
"Well, I assume all of the gnomes have left, but don't just sit there; I've got other chores for you to do, so whenever you finish one, you come look for me and I'll start you on the next."  
  
"Mom, don't you think it's a bit cruel to make our guests work as well?" said George. "I mean, the funeral's in two and a half hours." His mother looked at him with strict eyes and just when he thought it wouldn't work, her look softened.  
  
"You're right. You're completely right. I suppose I was just trying to keep your minds away from the funeral with the household tasks," she said, heaving a sigh. "All right. I'll give you one last chore and then you can do whatever you like until eleven thirty."  
  
"Sounds good," said Fred. "What is it?"  
  
"Weed the garden for me, please."  
  
"Aw, mum! You can't possibly expect us to weed the garden for you today?" groaned Ginny. But there was no arguing with Mrs. Weasley and the whole group sauntered off back into the yard.  
  
"I don't see what's so awful about weeding, though," said Harry.  
  
"Neither do I," said Hermione.  
  
"Oh come on. You both know enough about magical gardens by now. I mean, the gnomes and stuff. You can't possibly expect they have normal small weeds that just need to be gently pulled out and thrown onto a heap," Nora told them sceptically. Harry and Hermione remained silent for a few seconds.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Right, so the trick is," said Fred, walking towards a tall, brightly coloured weed that looked like one of those flesh eating plants that fed on flies and other small insects, "you have to trick it into at least facing the other way with it's head, so you can grab the bottom of the stem with two hands and give it a large tug without getting bitten."  
  
"Well, at least it's more interesting than de-gnoming," said George shrugging and he and Fred walked off to the corner with the most weeds.  
  
"Right," said Ron, who hadn't done this very often. "I guess we should start, then."  
  
"Yeah," agreed Draco. "The sooner we start, the sooner it'll be over, the longer we'll have to do something fun." Of course, none of them were very eager to come near the plants, except Ron who bravely faced one of the smaller ones before getting bitten in the hand.  
  
"Ouch! Why you-" A whole stream of cuss words poured out of his mouth as he shook his hand to relieve it of pain.  
  
"Ron! RON!" said Hermione, revolted by his language. "Where on earth did you learn that!?" Ron pointed straight at the twins, who gave their little brother a thumbs up.  
  
"You learn well, little Ronnikins," said Fred proudly.  
  
"I just hope mum didn't hear," added George, looking around.  
  
"Right, so how about we weed in two's. One person will distract the... erm... mouth and the other will pull it out of the ground," suggested Hermione. "How does that sound?"  
  
"Sounds pretty good," agreed Nora. Of course, it was still difficult weeding, because everyone feared they would get bitten. After a while Ron's hand had a large red boil on it where the weed had bit him. Hermione had a cyst on her arm and Nora one on her palm. The three weren't usually ones to complain, but at one point the pain became unpleasant enough that they had to go see Mrs. Weasley, so that she could treat them.

* * *

The weeding seemed to take forever, but when they were finally done it was only ten fifteen.  
  
"Wow, fifteen minutes faster than the de-gnoming," said Ginny, bored.  
  
"Ok. So now we have like, what, about an hour before we have to get ready for the funeral?" said Harry, looking at the others.  
  
"Not sure. I suppose," said Hermione. "But how are we arriving there. And where is it anyway?" she asked the rest. They all shrugged. Now that they had finished both tasks they did not know what else there was to do.  
  
"For some incredibly disturbing reason I don't feel like playing Quidditch," said Ron slowly.  
  
"Me neither," said Harry. "Besides, I don't have my broom here."  
  
"Well, we'd love to stay and chat," said Fred.  
  
"But unlike you lot, we've got business to do," added George. They both Disapparated, leaving the others wondering what to do now.  
  
"Ooh! I know! I know!" shouted Ginny, taking the others by surprise when she stood up so fast that she nearly toppled over. "Oooh. Head rush," she said, rubbing her eyes. "How about we go for a swim in the lake? It's nearby and hidden from view by a forest. I don't think any of the Muggles know about it." The others shrugged and nodded; what else was there to do? They agreed with Hermione that she would cast them into their swimsuits later, and headed down the road towards a small forest.  
  
Ginny and Ron led them into the woods and immediately the sweet smell of the trees wafted towards them. Gazing at the beauty around them and listening to the singing of the birds high above was definitely something to remember, and it was only a short walk further in the cool shade that they saw the small lake suddenly in front of them. The water was a cool light blue and looked incredibly inviting, so Hermione muttered some words and there they were, ready to dive in.  
  
"Somebody has to keep an eye on the time, because we have less than an hour before we should at least head back to the Burrow," said Nora, looking at the others.  
  
"I will," said Draco and he set the alarm on his watch to go off fifty minutes from now.  
  
"Race you," said Ron and he sprinted off towards the lake, diving in at full speed. Harry and Draco quickly followed, splashing water all over the shore. The three girls tested the water first and when their toes said the lake was a bit too cold for their liking they remained firmly on the shore.  
  
"Aw, come on! Don't be such wimps!" shouted Harry.  
  
"Well, it's too cold!" shouted Ginny.  
  
"But there's no point standing here forever. We only have about forty- five minutes left," said Nora reasonably and she too dove into the water with a large splash. Hermione quickly avoided the water flying straight at her, but then bit her lip and waded towards the others with Ginny, trying to ignore the cold.  
  
"You should have dived in as well," said Nora, laughing. "It's wonderfully refreshing when you do." She was pretty much right, for the water felt just as cool and fresh as it looked.  
  
"It's been ages since we've last swum," said Ron, looking around at the familiar surroundings of the lake.  
  
"Yeah," agreed the others.  
  
"So, any one know any fun water games?"  
  
"Do we always have to play water games? Can't we just swim for once?" asked Hermione.  
  
"Nope," answered Ron after pretending to think it over.  
  
"Fine. How about 'Marco Polo'?"  
  
"Oh please, that is so passé," he said, looking as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.  
  
"You probably don't even know what 'passé' means," scoffed Hermione. Ron glared at her.  
  
"Well, Lavender used it to describe your clothes, so I'm guessing it means: out-of-date," he replied coolly. Hermione uttered a snarl in offence.  
  
"Right. Now, I don't think we came here to argue," said Harry. Nora, Ginny and Draco shook their heads. Hermione folded her arms and Ron just shrugged.  
  
"So, any one know any fun water games?"

* * *

Five minutes later they were all simply swimming in the small lake, unable to come up with anything better to do. But swimming wasn't bad either, because now they could concentrate on the beauty that surrounded them.  
  
"You know, being around nature really isn't that bad," said Ron, floating around on his back.  
  
"Nature is good," agreed Draco, who snuck up to Ron and pushed him under water. Ron came back up gasping for air and looking hurt.  
  
"And I thought I could trust you," he said. Draco grinned.  
  
Of course Ron didn't mind having yet another fight with Hermione, it was one of his hobbies, but Hermione wasn't like him at all, and so she was complaining about him to Nora, who sighed and put up with it.  
  
"He is such a five year old!" snarled Hermione.  
  
"Oh come one, Hermione. You're not acting any older," said Nora, following Hermione's gaze and seeing Ron trying, in vain, to push Draco under water.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"It means that you should quit whining and just ignore everything he says. We all do it," said Ginny. "Except Harry, of course." Hermione chuckled, but sighed afterwards.  
  
"I'll try."

* * *

Gradually, as the sun made its way to the highest point in the sky, it began to get warmer and warmer making the coolness of the lake all the more welcome. Unfortunately, just at the point when they were all floating about in the fresh water, wishing they could stay in there forever, Draco's watch alarm went off.  
  
"That sucks," said Ron as they all swam to the shore and let the sun dry them for the most part before getting dressed again.  
  
On the way back to the Burrow they met Percy, who had come back from work early and had been sent to come and bring them back so they could get changed for the funeral. Percy hardly said anything during the walk home, which may have been because Ron loudly talked over him whenever he _did_ want to say something.  
  
"Thank you, Percy," said Mrs. Weasley when they entered the Burrow.  
  
"There was no need to send me, mother. They were already on there way over when I went to fetch them," said Percy before he headed upstairs. The female half in the hall all thought he looked slightly hurt, but of course none of them mentioned it, though Ginny did have in mind to tell Ron he should stop being so mean to Percy.  
  
"All right, dears. Now I've laid out some clothes on yours beds for the funeral. You can choose from those what you want to wear, but anything else is out of the question, understood?" she said sharply, looking at her two children, the only ones she could actually instruct how to dress. "You have till eleven thirty to change, so hurry up." They all trudged upstairs and hurried into their rooms to get dressed, since they had less than fifteen minutes.  
  
"Hey, aren't these mine?" said Nora, looking at the black clothes that were neatly lying on her bed.  
  
"I think our parents may have sent them over," said Hermione, inspecting her own clothes. The three girls got dressed into orderly black skirts with graceful black shirts and black high-heeled shoes and then quickly did their hair.  
  
"All right, how do I look," said Hermione, unenthused.  
  
"Honestly?" asked Nora. Hermione nodded hesitantly, not liking her friend's reaction. "You look anorexic."  
  
"Well, I can't help it, black makes you look thinner." Hermione sighed. "I don't like funerals."  
  
"No one does," replied Nora, trying to find something with colour that could brighten things up a bit without being offensive to the whole black ensemble. Ginny came back from the bathroom looking horror-struck.  
  
"I can't go out like _this_!" she said. Hermione and Nora saw her point immediately, but could think of nothing to solve the problem.  
  
"Oh wait," said Hermione. Ginny gave her a hopeful look. "You could dye your hair?"  
  
"Yeah, that'll work," she said darkly before heaving a sigh as well. "Black and orange just don't go together. It's too Halloween."  
  
"Well, at least the rest of your family will look the same," said Nora consolingly. "Besides, it's not that bad. Black looks good on you. Aha! I've found stuff," she added smiling, dangling a small velvet bag from one hand.  
  
"What stuff?" asked Ginny, trying to see what exactly what it was that Nora was holding.  
  
"Stuff to wear. I can't believe I forgot all about my jewellery. I haven't worn these for ages," she said, putting her silver and blue watch on and her silver bracelet. Then she picked up a little box and took out the silver choker with the gold heart hanging from it that Dean had given her. She smiled, read the words I (heart) You on the back of the heart and put the necklace on.  
  
"Hey, that's right. Silver isn't an offensive colour at funerals at all, is it?" said Hermione, slightly relieved.  
  
"Nor is gold," added Ginny. Finally done they hurried downstairs as fast as their high-heels would let them.  
  
"Aha! Faster than the boys for once," said Nora, smiling proudly, hand on her hips. Of course, there was no way that would happen.  
  
"Hi there," said Ron, walking out of the kitchen with Harry and Draco.  
  
"Damn it."  
  
"FRED, GEORGE!" shouted Mrs. Weasley, from the bottom of the stairs, peering up to see if they were coming. The twins Apparated right beside her with a pop but, unlike the others, Mrs. Weasley didn't jump in shock. "All right. Let's just get this over with, shall we? Accio!" But nothing flew out of their pockets, or anywhere else for that matter, and she looked at them for explanation.  
  
"Mother, please. We don't crash funerals," said Fred, shaking his head.  
  
"Only parties," added George grinning.  
  
"Very well. I trust you two. Arthur!?"  
  
"Yes, yes. I'm coming," said Mr. Weasley, who was wearing a very neat, black dress robe and hurrying down the stairs with Percy, who was also wearing a black robe, like Mrs. Weasley, but unlike the others.  
  
"So how are we getting there, dad?" asked Ginny.  
  
"Well, first we take the car to a little secluded plane and from there we'll travel to the place of the funeral by portkey with other families from the area," Mr. Weasley explained as they all headed out of the house and clambered into the waiting car.  
  
As the car drove on at its fast pace, the area all around them slowly changed from all kinds of shades of green to yellows and browns as they passed farmlands. When the car stopped and they got out, they saw that more people were arriving and heading towards the small group a few yards away.  
  
"That trash can would be our portkey," said Mr. Weasley as they walked through the tall grass of the meadow. Harry saw with a lurch of his stomach that Cedric Diggory's parents were there as well, looking cheerless. "The portkey is set to leave in less than five minutes, so we're just in time," Mr. Weasley told his group. "If you would all take a hold of the trash can?" They did as they were asked and put a finger somewhere on the grey portkey. Some of the other people near them followed their example.  
  
"I don't see why Percy has to be here. He can Apparate," Ron complained to his father.  
  
"Percy's here to keep an eye on things. He'll be watching the Portkey leave," replied Mr. Weasley.  
  
"Oh, that's right, because Percy's a 'Ministry Official'," Ron said, with an obvious mock in his voice. Harry thought it was weird to see Ron being so unsympathetic towards Percy and that the twins were now pretty much leaving him alone, which was the opposite only a year ago. Speaking of the twins...  
  
"So what are _you_ guys doing here? You can Apparate, too," he said to Fred and George.  
  
"Well, yeah," said Fred.  
  
"But we don't trust ourselves with long distances yet," added George.  
  
"And we don't know for sure where this funeral is."  
  
"So we might leave some parts behind." At that point Harry felt the uncomfortable tug at his bellybutton and then, not a moment later, he was landing roughly on a dark, unkempt patch of grass in an unknown place.  
  
"Aha! We knew it," exclaimed George.  
  
"Ah. Hogwarts, good old Hogwarts," said Fred with a sigh as Percy Apparated beside him.  
  
"What!?" exclaimed everyone younger than them, who had no idea where they were. They looked around, frantically searching for the familiar castle.  
  
"I don't see it," said Ginny, frowning. "Are you two sure we're at Hogwarts?"  
  
"Sure we're sure," said Fred.  
  
"Wouldn't say so if it wasn't so," George told her.  
  
"But then where-?" began Ron, but he'd already spotted the large turrets and towers, for he had turned around and gazed over the lake, a good couple of miles below, and looked down onto the castle, which seemed darker than he could remember it.  
  
"Oooh, so we're on the other side of the lake," said Hermione. "We've hardly ever been here, haven't we?" The others shrugged, not really remembering.  
  
"So this is where the funeral's being held?" asked Nora, gazing around.  
  
"Yup," said George, walking up beside her. "Dumbledore's been preparing this place even before the Second War." The others walked over as well and only now did they look properly at their surroundings. In front of them and aligned with Hogwarts was something like a gazebo but much larger. In front of it were chairs for people to sit, probably during Dumbledore's speech. Even though it was noon and the sun was high in the air, there seemed to be a shadow covering the whole area.  
  
"Wow, look," whispered Hermione. Of the hundreds of people that had already arrived, large black masses were walking on the brick paths that had been laid. Every few feet there would be a marble tile, left and right, leading to one of the graves. As the group followed one of the paths they saw how beautifully the graves were decorated. Each in a similar way, yet different enough to make each one special. There was a headstone at the head of every one of them and behind that a large tree had been planted. But different ones for different graves. Birch trees and oak trees were the most common, but there we many more sorts, most of them unknown and exotic. On the left side of the graves a row of ever blooming flowers, spaced evenly apart, had been planted and on the right side were two small shrubberies's with in between them a single flower, which was once again different for most graves.  
  
"I'm guessing the flowers on the left are us," said Nora quietly as they walked along the graves.  
  
"Yes, and the single flower on the right is the deceased person," agreed Hermione in a hushed voice.  
  
"Why are we whispering," whispered Ron.  
  
"So we don't disturb the other people around us, you moron," said Ginny. Ron looked at her with a questioning gaze; there had been no need for name-calling.  
  
"Wow, Dumbledore really worked hard on this," said Draco, looking around, holding Nora's hand tightly.  
  
"Yeah, apparently he had a hard time with all those deaths at Hogwarts," said Fred.  
  
"So he made this for them. Rumour has it he sanctified this cemetery," George told them.  
  
"Wow, look what he called it," said Harry, pointing at the large gazebo-like area, for on it was written in gold letters: 'Garden of Remembrance.' "He sure knows how to put a dramatic touch to things."  
  
"And this graveyard is only for those who died at the hands of Voldemort or his Death Eaters, right?" asked Ron.  
  
"Yup," said Fred.  
  
"Oh, there's Lavender. I'll see you guys later," Ron said hurriedly before he sprinted off towards Lavender who waved him over.  
  
"Hermione?" The group turned to the direction from which the voice had come from.  
  
"Terry!" shouted Hermione happily, giving her boyfriend a hug. Terry smiled and greeted the others when she finally let him go. "I wasn't sure if you were coming."  
  
"Well, I wasn't sure either, but I knew you were coming and I wanted to say my last goodbye's to some of them," he replied, indicating towards the graves. "Besides, my parents made me," he muttered. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"  
  
"Sure," said Hermione and the two walked off, holding hands.  
  
"Aw, they're so cute together," said Ginny.  
  
"Right. Well, we've got things to discuss with Lee," said Fred.  
  
"So we'll see you guys later," George told them and they walked away.  
  
"Well, I guess I'll go find my friends, too," said Ginny and after a short awkward silence she turned around and left, too. Of course, now that there were just the three of them, Harry felt like a third wheel around Nora and Draco, so he said he'd go look for Neville.  
  
"You don't have to go, Harry," said Nora. "We don't mind."  
  
"No, no. That's fine. I wanted to talk to Neville anyway," Harry assured her. He turned around and after a short hesitation walked straight ahead, thinking Neville might be with his grandmother who was likely to be somewhere where the crowd was. On the way over though, Harry was held up by Parvati, who, he couldn't help but notice, looked extremely beautiful.  
  
"Hi," Parvati said.  
  
"Hi," Harry replied, his face expressionless. He was still angry that she had broken up with him in a letter for the most stupid reason.  
  
"I wanted to talk to you a while ago, but you kept avoiding me."  
  
"I wonder why," Harry told her coldly.  
  
"Look, I'm sorry for the letter, but I just got so scared that I couldn't handle it anymore. I was terrified and it seemed like the best solution at the time. I'm terribly sorry," Parvati said, her eyes begging him to forgive her.  
  
"Yeah, well, you should have thought about the consequences first."  
  
"Please, Harry, we can still be friends. I'll make it up to you. Really, I will. You just have to understand. It was becoming too dangerous for me." Harry watched her with a look of well-then-you-should-have-just- toughened-up-and-put-up-with-it-like-_I_-had-to. "Harry, please. I'm not as strong as you. I wasn't prepared for all that danger as you were." It was hard to stay angry with her when she looked so small and helpless and soon Harry's look softened.  
  
"Fine. I forgive you," he said. Parvati looked uncertainly at him.  
  
"You do? Oh, thank you Harry. You're wonderful. I'm sorry if I really hurt you that badly." She gave him a big hug, her eyes filled to the brim in tears.  
  
"It's ok," he said, wishing she hadn't broken up with him at all. It pained him to see his friends so happily with their other half when he was all alone. However, he just tried to ignore his feelings and continued: "But I have to talk to Neville now. You don't happen to know where he is, do you?" Parvati pointed in the direction of where he had landed with portkey.  
  
"Thanks." After a couple of minutes of searching Harry found Neville, looking extremely bored while his grandmother talked to some Ministry people.  
  
"Hey Harry," Neville said, walking over to him.  
  
"Hey Neville. Listen, I... erm... wanted to talk to you. Do you... is that ok?" Harry asked awkwardly. He avoided Neville's questioning look.  
  
"Of course. About what?"  
  
"Erm... well..." stuttered Harry as the two of them walked away from the crowd and into the shade of the graves' trees. "I mean, you pretty much lost your parents at age one too, how did you deal with it?" Neville didn't question Harry at all and instead began talking at once.  
  
"Well, I had to figure it out by myself, because grandmother wasn't much help. She always avoided the questions about my parents. But I always talked to them when we visited the hospital, and I told myself that they could hear me and that they understood what I was telling them. I don't really remember how I got over the fact that they had been driven into insanity... I guess it became a kind of routine: visiting them, talking to them and then my grandmother would always somehow force me to not think about them by giving me chores and such... But it's different for you of course, because your parents were murdered. They can't come back... mine can, someday. Grandmother told me they were researching cures for the Cruciatus curse in the Ministry of Magic, in de Department of Mysteries. You know... down where we fought the Death Eaters?" Neville whispered the last sentence, as if he wasn't sure if Harry wanted to be reminded of that night.  
  
"You're lucky then," muttered Harry darkly. "Do you know if they've gotten far yet? I mean, it'd be incredible for you if you got your parents back."  
  
"Yeah," replied Neville sadly. Harry wondered what it was like to be him, always ignored and thought of as a near-squib, unable to do anything. "Grandmother told me they might be done in a few years, perhaps. Unless they have a sudden breakthrough. But funding is low, because of Voldemort and stuff." Harry nodded in understanding. The two walked on in comfortable silence in the shade of the trees, Harry feeling sorry for Neville, who must've led just as bad a life as he had.  
  
"I wish they were researching the veil. Maybe they could find a way to somehow bring Sirius back," he said softly.  
  
"I don't think they can," Neville said truthfully, a pitiful look in his eyes. "He's dead; it's irreversible. I don't even think Dumbledore would be able to bring him back." There was another silence. "Sorry. But you have to trust me; you'll feel much better some day. And you'll be glad you had the chance to know Sirius the way you did. There are lots of others out there who have never known a great friend like him."  
  
"I know," said Harry, barely being able to talk with the large lump in his throat. He sighed. "It... it just hurts _so _much."  
  
"It'll pass. Trust me. Some day, it'll pass." Neville reached into his pocket and took out a small, azure pendant, saying: "Take this. It's my lucky amulet. It'll protect you." Harry carefully took the pendant.  
  
"Thanks," he whispered.  
  
"I have to go now though," Neville said, just knowing that Harry would want to be left alone now. "Grandmother doesn't know where I went and I don't want her to worry. I'll see you Harry. I'm glad we talked. I feel better." And with that he turned and slowly walked away with a small smile on his face. Harry felt better too, but somehow he also felt worse. Carefully putting the indigo pendant in his pocket he walked among the graves, reading their names and dates, looking for Sirius.  
  
What he was not expecting to find though, was two graves closer together, which Harry had found out meant that they were family, and seeing the names of his parents. His heart had skipped a beat in shock and his breath got caught up somewhere in his throat. Carefully stepping onto the marble tile that led up to them, he blinked hard to stop any tears trying to break free. When Harry had confirmed that the two graves really did belong to his parents he fell onto his knees, crying. Sure he had always known they were dead, but seeing their graves and their headstones bearing their names somehow made it... official. He could not bear to think that his once loving parents were lying only a few feet below him. This was the closest he'd ever been to them for sixteen years.

* * *

"Alone at last," said Draco, when Harry walked away.  
  
"Yeah. It's been ages, hasn't it?" asked Nora smiling, putting her hand in his. Draco kissed it before they started walking again.  
  
"So... it'll be a while before we see each other again," he said softly. "We're all going back home tonight."  
  
"I know." Nora sighed, nodding. "But we'll owl and we can visit each other," she added hopefully. Draco smiled and gave her a kiss.  
  
"Definitely." As they wandered underneath the tall trees between the graves, the people around them began to thin out until soon they were all alone except for a rotund figure stomping towards them.  
  
"It's Pansy, isn't it?" asked Nora dully. She turned out to be right, because seconds later Pansy stopped in front of them with a big leer on her face.  
  
"Sorry to bother your pleasant stroll," she said sweetly, though her sneer said otherwise. "So I heard via a reliable source that the happy couple is getting married? Is this true?" she demanded, her sweet look vanishing.  
  
"What? Where on earth did you hear–" spluttered Draco, but Nora already had a good idea of who the leak was.  
  
"Ron. He probably told Lavender and we all know she can't keep her mouth shut," she snarled.  
  
"Very good!" said Pansy, clapping her hands. "I assume your reactions are a 'yes'? But seriously Draco," she sighed, shaking her head in disappointment. "I always thought the day you ran off with a mudblood would be the day the earth died. But I don't blame you... well I do, but I blame her more. She always was good in potions. I just know the filthy mudblood–" Draco was on the verge of really punching her lights out, hard, but Nora was one step ahead of him. She slapped Pansy across that ugly face of hers as hard as she could. At first she had thought about pummelling her, but slapping was a bit more lady-like. And it caused way more embarrassment. The right half of Pansy's face slowly turned bright red and she whimpered in pain when touching it.  
  
"And I thought you didn't mind being called a 'mudblood'," said Draco when Pansy had run off. He took Nora's hand in his again and then continued to walk, looking at his fiancée with love-filled eyes.  
  
"I don't," replied Nora. "I just _really_ felt like hitting her." She grinned and Draco kissed her, unable to stop himself.  
  
"You know, I love you," he told her when they began walking again. Nora put her head on his shoulder and sighed in contentment.  
  
"I love you too."  
  
"A part of me is glad all of this happened, because otherwise we may have never gotten together and then I'd just be a lonely Slytherin hated by everyone." Nora hugged him, feeling so comfortable and safe in his arms that she never wanted to let go. But a sniff on her left caused her to see what the noise was and then she saw him sitting there, crying.  
  
"Oh my god! Harry!" she exclaimed, letting go of Draco and hurrying as fast as her high-heels would let her over to the sobbing boy, sitting on the ground, looking so small and vulnerable. She let herself fall on her knees in the dirt and Draco kneeled down on the other side of Harry, a sorrowful look in his eyes when his eyes slid over the headstones.  
  
"Poor him," he muttered.  
  
"Harry? Harry? Harry!" said Nora urgently, trying to get a reaction from him. But all Harry did was cry and whimper things to himself. "Oh Harry." Nora pulled him into a hug and finally he reacted, for he put his arms around her, though he continued to weep.  
  
"Should I get Hermione? Maybe the Amulet will help him feel better," offered Draco. Nora nodded.  
  
"Excellent idea." Draco was already running away when an idea entered his head. He shouted:  
  
"Accio Amulet!" and a few moments later Hermione's Amulet was in his hand. He touched it with one finger and the slight feeling of tiredness vanished.  
  
Hermione was talking to Terry and some of his friends when the Amulet was ripped off her neck, flew into the sky and zoomed off in a specific direction. She was considering actions, like shouting or running after it, when she felt feelings and thoughts pour into her. A particular thought said: '_I've got the amulet_' and another one told her: '_Harry's in trouble_'. She immediately said goodbye to Terry's friends and asked if Terry would come with her.  
  
"Sure," he replied as they headed towards the graves. "But where are we going and why?"  
  
"I have to get my Amulet back," Hermione replied as she darted this way and that, searching for Draco. Fortunately, his thoughts had given her some direction so she knew mostly which way she had to go.  
  
"Hermione!" She ran with Terry towards Draco, who was waving them over.  
  
"What's wrong with Harry? It sounded horribly urgent," panted Hermione; she'd never been good in sports.  
  
"He's over here. You'll understand when you see him," Draco replied gravely as he led them towards Nora and Harry.  
  
"Oh, Merlin," said Terry softly as Hermione gasped before falling on her knees beside Harry.  
  
"What do we do with him?" she asked, looking at the others. "I mean, we can't just leave him here like this? Maybe Mrs. Weasley knows how to make him feel better."  
  
"I don't think Harry wants her to see him like this, though," said Draco. "If you're going to make him talk to someone, you'd better make it Professor Lupin."  
  
"He's completely right," said Nora, smiling at Draco. "Lupin knew his parents better than any one else. But where can we find him?"  
  
"Well, if he isn't here, he's probably at Sirius' grave," said Hermione.  
  
"We'll get him," offered Terry, indicating at Draco and himself. The two boys quickly turned around and sprinted away.

* * *

"Well, where is he? Is it serious? How is he?" asked Lupin as he ran with Terry and Draco towards Harry. He uttered a little moan of sympathy when he saw the poor boy in complete ruins.  
  
"We'll leave you two alone. It'll be easier for him," said Hermione as she got up, tears in her eyes. Nora let go of Harry and stood up too, her t-shirt wet on the right shoulder from where Harry had cried on it. They all said good-bye and left Harry and their former Professor alone, feeling disheartened.  
  
"Harry," said Lupin softly to the boy. "Harry, what's the matter?" Harry just sniffed in reply, shaking his head. "I know you miss your parents and Sirius, but you must remember that they're not really gone." Harry uttered a noise as if saying 'yeah, right'. "No, Harry. Listen to me. There are ways." This took Harry's attention in both hands and he looked up, his eyes red and puffy, his face completely wet with tears. "There are ways to speak to them. The Department of Mysteries found them long ago, but they are not official. Please cheer up. They wouldn't have wanted you to feel this bad."  
  
"But I miss them," said Harry coarsely. "How am I supposed to cheer up when I know that I won't ever be able to hold them again?"  
  
"No, but you can hold others. There are still so many people out there who care for you. Your friends, for instance. You still have your friends. And such good friends are incredibly hard to come by." Lupin took a deep breath, his eyes filled with misery and the pain of being betrayed. "I had such good friends once. And then in one day they had all left me."  
  
"I'm sorry," said Harry, looking into Lupin's dark, grave eyes.  
  
"Don't be. It's not your fault. It was Voldemort's, but he's gone for good now." Harry wiped his tears away, took a deep, shuddering breath and tried to smile.  
  
"Thanks. I really feel much better." He paused. "Will you teach me how to talk to them?" Lupin stood up and then helped Harry up too.  
  
"I don't know the ways myself. But I do know where to get them and one day, when you're ready, I will show you. I promise." Lupin put a hand on Harry's shoulder and said: "Come, the others are probably wondering if you're ok." He was right because not far off the others stood waiting anxiously and all let out an audible sigh of relief when they saw that Harry was feeling so much better.  
  
"Harry, I heard what happened," said Ron, who had been fetched by Draco. "You're ok now, right?" Harry nodded smiling, remembering what Lupin had said; at least he still had his friends.  
  
"Now, come. I bet your parents are searching for you," Lupin said to the children. He led them back to the area with the Gazebo and the group broke apart to find their families. When Nora saw her mother, she immediately ran over to her and gave her a big hug.  
  
"Honey! There you are. I've been looking all over for you," Mrs. Glassyd told her.  
  
"Yeah, we're so glad you're all right," Mr. Glassyd said, giving his daughter a hug, too. "Excited to go back home tonight?" Nora nodded; she couldn't wait to sleep in her own bed in her own room again.  
  
"When we get back home you'll tell us everything you've been up to, won't you?" Nora nodded again.  
  
"Definitely. So where's Lily? Didn't she come?"  
  
"Of course she came. We offered to let her stay home, but she insisted on coming. She's over there," Mrs. Glassyd said, pointing towards Lily, who stood alone, looking bored. "It became too dull for her to stay with us while we were talking to some of the other grown-ups. Perhaps you can keep her company?" Nora knew it was a rhetorical question and that she didn't actually have a choice, so she nodded and walked over to her little sister.  
  
"Hi," she said.  
  
"Hi!" Her sister's eyes immediately lit up, now that she had someone to play with. "Are you going to help me bake cookies tomorrow? Mum said you'd be home then."  
  
"Sure. Why not?" said Nora, shrugging. "So you're bored, huh?" Lily nodded.  
  
"Yeah." She looked around carefully, before continuing with a whisper. "Can I see the graves? Mum wouldn't let me go there by myself, so I thought you'd take me. After all, you have a reason to. You could tell people we're going to visit Dean." Nora was shocked. She hadn't even thought of visiting Dean, but then again, a part of her was kind of afraid to. "Please?" Nora took a deep breath and nodded. She took Lily's hand in hers and led her into the shade as her sister looked around in frightened aw. Nora guessed there had to be some sort of system, and she noticed that the graves were lain in alphabetical order; Dean would be somewhere on the other side.  
  
"Look at all the people," whispered Lily. "Are Harry's parents here too?" Nora nodded, trying hard to prepare herself for seeing Dean's grave. She wondered in she would burst into tears just like Harry had.  
  
"Yeah. Everyone who was murdered at the hands of Voldemort or his Death Eaters is here." Nora was very aware that every step on the brick path took her closer to Dean's body. With a slight shock she realised they were already at 'T'. "Lily," she said, turning to face her sister and kneeling down so that she was at eye-level with her. "Is it all right if I go to him by myself? So I can say good-bye?" Lily nodded and let go of her sister's hand, showing that it was all right that she went. "Thank you."  
  
"Go," Lily said smiling. Nora stood up and tried hard to smile back. She took a deep breath and then slowly walked forward, a breeze rushing past her, and Nora felt as if it was comforting her, telling her everything would be all right. She read the names on the graves and when she saw '_Dean Thomas_' she closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again and stepping onto the marble tile in front of his grave. Kneeling down on the ground her eyebrows formed a sad frown as tears ran down her cheeks. But it was soon replaced by a smile as she sniffed. She picked a maple leaf up from his grave and laid it gently on the grass beside her. Trying to picture Dean in front of her again, she realised with a lurch of her stomach that the man in her prefect dream two nights ago had been him. Though she knew that that dream would never come true, she did know that it would always be Draco and her, forever. She put her hands in her lap and tried to think of something to say.  
  
"I never got to say good-bye to you, but now that I have the chance, I don't know what to say," she whispered. "I hope you know I miss you. I always will." Nora knew he wasn't there, but she talked to him as if he was. "You're probably wondering about the engagement ring on my finger." She fidgeted nervously with it. "It's Draco. I love him, just like I loved you. But you broke my heart and when I gave you a second chance you left me. You may not have meant to, but you did. And then all of a sudden there was Draco. He was sweet and caring and he managed to unlock my heart." She smiled at his grave, knowing he would understand.  
  
"But I have never forgotten about you. I never will." She reached for her skirt, which had a small pocket on the inside, and took out a small Amethyst rock, which she laid in an open compartment in his headstone where you could light a candle. "I don't need my lucky talisman anymore, which is why I'm giving it to you, so that you'll always remember me." She wiped away the tears that had been streaming down her cheeks. "I'll always miss you. Maybe you could visit me in my dreams? Like you did just after you died? I wouldn't mind so much now." She laughed dolefully to herself before getting up, knowing she'd never see him again. "Goodbye," she whispered, wiping more tears away. And he would never know she had been so close to him again.

* * *

Hermione had found her father swiftly and they were now both standing in front of her mother's grave. Her father told his wife that he had not meant to hurt her and that he had been under the curse of Voldemort. He said how he hoped she did not hate him and that one day they would see each other again. When her father had finished in tears, Hermione spoke to her mother next.  
  
"I'm sorry I did not see right away that daddy was under the Imperious curse. If I had, I would've been able to save you and you'd still be alive. I'm so sorry," she whispered, a hand on her mother's grave. "But you were a wonderful mother, the best I could hope for, and I'd rather have known you for only this time than have a horrible mother for my entire life. You were great. You'll always be great." Hermione sniffed and angrily wiped her tears away, because she didn't want to cry again. "I love you. Goodbye... I'll visit you as much as I can." Her father hugged her and then the two of them quietly walked away.  
  
"I love you, honey," he said. "You know that, don't you?"  
  
"Of course I do, dad. I love you too. And I want you to know that I don't blame you for mom's death. I know you didn't mean to. And I know you would never be able to throw the Imperious Curse off, especially because you didn't know what it was. Not many people can escape it."  
  
"Thank you, sweetheart. I'm glad you don't blame me. And I'm thankful that you were able to kill him. I was terrified the whole year that he would take my other love away. I thank God every single day that you're still here."

* * *

Draco stood with his mother before Nymphirah's grave. He did not cry like his mother, but instead he thought of all the memories he had of his little sister. He wondered how people would react when they saw '_Nymphirah Malfoy_' on the headstone, for not many of them knew that he had had a little sister. His parents had thought it safer to keep her hidden, for she was small and therefore weak and therefore an easy target for the enemies.  
  
"I saw her," he said to his mother as they stood in front of the grave.  
  
"Excuse me?" asked Narcissa, not understanding.  
  
"I saw her," Draco repeated. "Before the Second War. Nymphirah, I saw her. She visited me, to help me."  
  
"Honey, –"  
  
"No, it's true. I cried out for help to the stars. I was desperate and then all of a sudden she was beside me." His mother looked at him, blinking the tears away or carefully dabbing at them with a handkerchief. "She told me to tell you that you should stop crying over her." Narcissa uttered another sob.  
  
"I'll try," she said. They turned away from the small grave, Narcissa holding her son in both arms as they walked down the path. Draco wondered what it was like to be dead. Was it scary? Or just very frustrating, because Nymphirah had shown him that, apparently, you kept your mind and were therefore still able to think, but not do anything. What did people do in the afterlife? He shuddered at the thought of living forever, partially. What happened when the sun finally blew up? Would they continue to live in complete darkness for eternity? They couldn't die with the mortal humans, since they were ghosts and thus already dead. What happened to them? As his mind wandered off into more and more horrifying thoughts, Draco suddenly realised he was mortified of death. He did not like the idea at all, but on the other hand, he didn't want to live forever either... why did life always have to be so complicated? He wished he had never pondered this; now his thoughts would haunt him forever.  
  
"Are you all right, honey?" asked his mother, looking at him in concern. Draco nodded; he did not want to share his thoughts and terrify her as well.  
  
"I'm fine. Just a little tired."  
  
"Yes, so am I," his mother said, before sighing. "I had hoped so much things would turn out better for you and Nymphirah. But your father... people warned me I was mixing with the wrong crowd when I met him." Another sigh. Narcissa kissed him on the forehead. "The only good things he gave me were you and your sister and a decent house to raise you in."

* * *

When Nora turned around to walk back to Lily, she jumped a little in shock on seeing Dumbledore beside her. He was wearing completely pitch- black robes with a hat in the exact same eternal dark colour.  
  
"I have only just gotten here," he assured her. "A word, if you please?" Nora nodded, peering behind him to see if Lily was still there. "I have asked her if she would be so kind to let me talk with you for a moment. Lily went back to your parents."  
  
"Oh, ok, then."  
  
"Now, I have been around students long enough at this point to understand them just through observation," Dumbledore said as he began walking, Nora joining him perplexed. "I know usually their most troubling thoughts and how they feel at the moment by looking. As a headmaster, I should not have favourites, but you five are very special and have become rather dear to me during the past few months." He stopped at a cross between two paths and Nora saw Ron waiting. He looked just as confused as she was.  
  
"I have, after some thought, decided to talk to you both, for you two need some reminder of just how special you are. It seems as though both of you don't realise that even though the Second War is over, you will always remain elite. The other three know about themselves as being remarkable... Harry, well, he's constantly reminded of it. Draco, too, has people around him who establish that he is no ordinary boy; he has the white skull on his arm to prove it. And Hermione, she has her knowledge that is simply extraordinary. But you two, you feel like their overshadowed sidekicks." Nora and Ron could not believe how Dumbledore knew all this, but he gave them no time to wonder.  
  
"But what you two do not know, is that you, too, have something to remind you of your uniqueness." He looked seriously at both of them and smiled as two pairs of wide-eyed eyes met his.  
  
"What is it?" asked Ron, almost in a whisper.  
  
"Your Patronus'," came Dumbledore's simple reply. "Have you never noticed how other people always seem to have Muggle animals as a Patronus? For example Harry's stag, or Hermione's otter, or Draco's stallion. However, you two have magical animals. Nora, you've a Unicorn and Ron, yours is a fire-breathing salamander. Those two animals are proof or your distinctiveness." The two children gazed at him, feeling now that they were indeed not ordinary, as they had believed. "Now, with this little pep-talk, I believe you are ready to sing, Nora?" She nodded. Ron looked at her, bewildered.  
  
"Sing?" he asked as they walked back to the open area with the gazebo. "When? Where? And heavens _why_?"  
  
"Hush," Nora said, holding up a hand to silence him. "I'm nervous." They walked into the open area right beside the gazebo. Hundreds of people in black were standing there, talking to each other. All the seats in front of the portico were taken and there were more arriving, after having visited the graves.  
  
"Nora!" said Hermione, hurrying over to the two.  
  
"I'm dead nervous. Maybe we shouldn't after all?"  
  
"We have too," said a 7th year girl, walking over with two boys, one a 7th year as well and the other a 4th year.  
  
"What on earth is going on here?" said Ron, not liking being left completely in the dark.  
  
"You'll see, Ron. Go sit with Harry and Draco. Don't tell them about this, though," Hermione told him. Ron shrugged and walked over to his two friends, of course planning to tell them about the whole thing. Dumbledore, in the mean time, had placed himself in the middle of the gazebo on a little platform.  
  
"I thank you all for coming here. It took much courage to do so and I honour every single one of you for it. I worked day and night to create this '_Garden of Remembrance_' as I named it, and I hope all of you look at it with high regard. Too many deaths have fallen at the hands of Voldemort, but I thank the good Lord that he is finally gone, so we may live in peace." He took a deep breath and sighed. "I had a whole speech formed in my mind... but it all seems ridiculous now and I know none of you are anxious to hear it. Instead there are five Hogwarts students who have found all of the sorrowful words and emotions in a song. And I always say music is the strongest magic of them all. Please, come," he finished, indicating to Hermione, Nora and the other three. They all took a deep breath and walked up to Dumbledore, who nodded and left them alone on the platform in the gazebo. Nora stepped forward, her eyes fearfully scanning the massive crowd in front of her, all their eyes on her. She quickly found Draco, by means of his white/blond hair, which could be used as a beacon, and she obtained some inner strength in his smile.  
  
"I have felt miserable many times this year," she said, her voice carrying all the way over the crowd. "Enough to last a lifetime. But what always helped me feel better was music. But instead of just hearing it myself this time I wanted to share it with all of you and maybe help you feel better, too, for we're all in this together... There were of course millions of songs to choose from, but there was one particular song that was perfect. Runaway Train, by Soul Asylum. I hope it'll help." Nora herself thought her speech had been a bit lame, but, hey, no one had booed her, so she looked at Dumbledore, who turned the music on, and with Hermione and the others she began to sing with all her heart, always looking at Draco.  
  
_**Call you up in the middle of the night  
  
Like a firefly without a light  
  
You were there like a blowtorch burning  
  
I was a key that could use a little turning**_  
  
The words rang clearly and carried for long distances. The black mass in front of them listened intently, moved by the young girl's words and her wish to make them feel better. It was with such caring that tears filled their eyes as words and song surrounded them.  
  
There was a large silence when the song had finished, but soon everyone had stood up and was clapping loudly. The five who had sung were still trembling as they walked off the small stage, unable to speak. Dumbledore congratulated them all and it was only a second later that Harry, Ron and Draco arrived.  
  
"You were brilliant," said Draco, pulling Nora into his arms. She smiled weakly and just closed her eyes, loving the way he held her. Harry, however, was not as happy as his friends; he would be going back to the Dursley's this summer and at the thought of not having a decent family member to return to, he almost burst back into tears.  
  
**_So tired that I couldn't even sleep  
  
So many secrets I couldn't keep  
  
I promised myself I wouldn't weep  
  
One more promise I couldn't keep_**  
  
As the five split up to go back to their families, Harry staying with Dumbledore, the unbearable feeling of loneliness crept into them with every step they took away from each other. And soon they were led even further away as each travelled home with their family. They tried to feel happy, relieved that Voldemort was gone, but somehow, they couldn't, they were stuck.  
  
**_It seems no one can help me now,  
  
I'm in too deep; there's no way out  
  
This time I have really led myself astray_**  
  
Nora looked at her parents who were arguing about which highway exit to take. Lily, beside her, was watching the scenery change swiftly.  
  
"So, mom, can... erm, can Draco visit during the summer?" Nora asked. Lily immediately turned her head to watch interestedly.  
  
"Why would he, dear?" asked her mother, turning to look at her oldest daughter.  
  
"Because we're... uhm, kind of... er... seeing each other?" she replied uncertainly. Her father nearly slammed the breaks in shock, but luckily he managed to avoid a collision by means of letting out his anger in yelling angrily:  
  
"WHAT!?"  
  
"Honey, calm down," Mrs. Glassyd said. "You just watch the road." She looked back at Nora. "You two are dating?" Nora nodded. "And you want him to come visit?" she nodded again. "You want Draco Malfoy to come visit. The boy you've been complaining about to us every summer for the past five years?" Nora nodded again, hopefully. "We'll see." Her mother sat straight again and Nora glared her parents, knowing they were most likely to say 'no'. They would never stop treating her like a little child. She felt hopeless once more. It seemed as if her train of progression, which had been chugging on smoothly ever since she was born, had derailed.  
  
**_Runaway train, never going back  
  
Wrong way on a one-way track  
  
Seems like I should be getting somewhere  
  
Somehow I'm neither here nor there_**  
  
Draco entered his home with his mother, who immediately hurried into the kitchen to speak with the house-elves, but he just stood in the hall, staring straight ahead of him. Being in this dark house reminded him of all his dark years and he definitely did not like it. Every single thing around him only reminisced his father and his little sister and those thoughts never brought any good... only sadness and pain. And as those dark memories rushed back to his mind, it was as if he was living it all over again and a little smirk appeared on his face. Draco walked into the grand living room, scanning it all. He sneered at the thought of his father. It went involuntarily and he didn't like it; he wanted to be like Nora, who smiled and laughed... like he had done in his younger years.  
  
**_Can you help me remember how to smile?  
  
Make it somehow all seem worthwhile  
  
How on earth did I get so jaded?  
  
Life's mystery seems so faded_**  
  
Harry stood in front of the Dursley's house. Dumbledore had Disapparated again. He opened the door and stepped inside the neat hall. There were no Dursley's there to welcome him home.  
  
"Predictable," he muttered under his breath. Harry closed the door and entered the kitchen to grab a snack and show them he was home. Only Dudley was in the kitchen and he replied Harry's silence with a silence of his own. Harry grabbed an apple and went upstairs, locking the door to his room when he had shut it with a loud bang. He plopped onto the floor in the middle of the room, looking around. He hated his relatives with their narrow-minded minds. They never understood him and they never bothered to. Tears fell down his cheeks. Harry had never cried much in his life but it seemed as if all those sad and lonely times were now catching up with him. He wept, his apple lying forgotten beside him, unable to think of anything but the awful ordeal he had lived his life through... it had all begun with Voldemort but somehow it did not end with him.  
  
**_I can go where no one else can go  
  
I know what no one else knows  
  
Here I am just a-drownin' in the rain  
  
With a ticket for a runaway train_**  
  
Hermione stayed inside the house most of the time, always a book in her hands. Her father was worried about her, but his little girl was very bright, so he assumed she knew what she was doing. Hermione _did_ know what she was doing: drowning out her miserable thoughts by sinking into the fantasy world of her books. And everyday she would come down with another book in her hands, ready to read it straight through. Hermione predicted it was not healthy but she did not want to show her feelings and cry. She wanted to get rid of them and reading helped. Just like watching television, but it had too many commercials, so reading was the best option. And to do her father a favour and as not to worry him, she sat outside in the sun, too, and at times she would look up from her book and not believe how dreadful she felt.  
  
**_And everything seems cut and dried,  
  
Day and night, earth and sky,  
  
Somehow I just don't believe it_**  
  
His entire family praised Ron when he arrived home. They were all admiring him and hugging him and saying he had done brilliantly. The mirror of Erised would show Ron something different if he were to ever look in it again. It would show him wanting to be left alone. His father was being praised at the Ministry now and he was treated much better than before and this pleased Ron, but once the glamour had worn off he was happy to be treated just as 'Ron', though he wished he were left alone more often.  
  
**_Runaway train, never going back  
  
Wrong way on a one-way track  
  
Seems like I should be getting somewhere  
  
Somehow I'm neither here nor there_**  
  
At the beginning everything seemed to be at least a bit normal, but the longer they were in their familiar homes, the more it began to show. Hermione and Ron were still interacting with their families; Hermione would do things with her father and Ron with his whole family, but it was very clear they wished to be left alone. Draco and Nora however were doing worse; Draco was desperate to get out of his horrible house forever because it felt as if it was oppressing him, just the way his father had done and all the happiness seemed to vanish. He wished to be near Nora; she always made him feel as if he could take on the world. And Nora wished to be near him, because now that her parents knew they were together, they had not stopped inquiring about him to the point that Nora began avoiding them and she knew that being near Draco would make her feel so much better than she felt right now.  
  
Harry, however, was doing better than the others, for the Dursley's did not know what had happened in the Wizard world and therefore they treated him just as usual, giving him chores to do and yelling at him when he tried to argue. And the chores took Harry's mind off the things he did not want to think about and the yelling let him relieve himself of the anger that kept bottling up inside him. And for once Harry was glad he lived with the Dursley's and the other four envied him as he had envied them the years before.  
  
**_Bought a ticket for a runaway train  
  
Like a madman laughing at the rain  
  
A little out of touch, a little insane  
  
It's just easier than dealing with the pain_**  
  
Dumbledore observed the five and guarded over them but he did not like what he saw. It seemed to him that the longer the five were left like this, the more they were falling into isolation; set up by themselves without knowing it. But there was nothing he could do. They would have to learn how to cope with it for it was a thing that could not be taught. He sighed as he stroked Fawkes and waved a hand over his glass sphere. The images inside it of Harry vanished. The five had always thought of their headmaster as someone who knew all the answers and had not a care in the world. To them he was eternal. But Dumbledore was not. He sighed again and put his fingertips to his temples, relieving himself of the headache that had started to form.  
  
"Fawkes," he said. The brilliant scarlet coloured phoenix looked at him with its round eyes and trilled, as if reading its owners mind. "I am afraid I have gotten too old." Fawkes trilled again and cried on Dumbledore's hand. "Tears will not help me now."  
  
**_Runaway train, never going back  
  
Wrong way on a one-way track  
  
Seems like I should be getting somewhere  
  
Somehow I'm neither here nor there_**  
  
In much anguish and pain Dumbledore continued to watch his five students, noticing that with every move they made it was another step in running away.  
  
**_Runaway train, never coming back  
  
Runaway train, tearing up the track  
  
Runaway train, burning in my veins  
  
I run away but it always seems the same_**  
  
The old man sighed, a wrinkled hand on Fawkes' brilliant red head. He sighed again, as he often did nowadays. The bird trilled.  
  
"Yes," he replied. "It was a horrible thing to have put them through. I wished it could have been different, but alas." He looked out of his window. The day was a bright one, as it should be in the summer, but despite the cheerfulness around him, a tear rolled down Dumbledore's cheek as he thought of the five students, and he told Fawkes, who continued to cry, in vain, on his owner, trying to heal the wounds within: "Deep inside they will be forever broken."

* * *

_A/N_: I hope this was at least a bit sad, because it really has to be. ... But I can't believe its finished. I'm all sad now. But I hope you liked the last chapter. I really worked my best to make it enjoyable to read. Sigh It's all over now... well, not really, because I have to edit all my chapters, especially the first ones since they're the worse ones. But I hope you guys all enjoyed reading my story! And please read the Author's Note that will soon follow this chapter.  
  
**Dumbeldave** – Yeah, the previous chapter was supposed to be sad as well. And thanks! I have been enjoying myself now... well, I'm pretty much just watching TV and playing computer games, but I'm resting my brain after all that hard work =D Thanks for reading and reviewing. (Very much appreciated.)  
  
**(ES)** – thanks for the honesty; I'll try to make the previous chapter better when I edit my story. I hope you liked this chapter as the last one. Oh and if you have any suggestions to improve something, tell me, after all, you're the reader and you know best. =D Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Funness** – Yeah, this story does have its ups and downs but I'm glad you like it anyway. If you have any ideas on how I can improve it please tell me and I'll try to fix it as soon as possible. Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Sapphirelion** – Pushy, aren't you? Well, you can calm down because I updated and answered your questions. The Parvati and Harry thing I explained somewhere and the mysterious guy in Nora's dream has also been revealed. I tried to put some action in here, but I'm very bad at writing action scenes. But the Nora slapping Pansy scene was supposed to be a bit of action, just for you. I'll bet you overlooked it though, because it's a small incident. Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing! =D 


	50. My Thanks To You All

**Chapter 50: My Thanks To You All**

Right, well, this isn't really a chapter, but it's still kind of part of the story because in here I thank all of you who read (and reviewed) it, because you're all so special!

I must say, I had my doubts about this story in the beginning, because it was filled with so many impossible things and I thought none would like it, but gradually people did and all of you gave me such wonderful reviews! Of course, there were some who gave ridiculously unnecessary reviews saying they hate my story and bla bla bla but I overlook that because they gave stupid explanations and apparently they think that for some reason I'm supposed to be able to write as well as J.K. Rowling.

I wonder why though. It's stupid. I'm just a sixteen year old girl who thought it'd be fun to write fan fiction and _they_ all expect it to be some masterpiece. But I won't continue talking about them because this is dedicated to all of my faithful readers, like you.

But you've got to help me though, because I'm not sure what to write next. I'm working on a Lily/James fic, the first three chapters are already written, but I also thought it might be fun to write this story over, but then _exactly_ post OotP, which means no Nora, no nice Draco and definitely no 6th year heads who have their own common room. I'll let you guys choose, though, because, after all, you're the ones who end up reading it. And maybe you have suggestions of your own of what you'd like to read?

Also, I'm going to go through every chapter of this story critically from the beginning so I can rid it of all those spelling mistakes and little slip-ups and make it easier to read.

And of course I really want to thank you all again for having soooo much faith in me and my story! Very much appreciated. It's what kept me writing and trying to make every chapter the best. D I love you guys.

**GryffindorsLight**

P.S. Sorry for the song lyrics, I know I annoyed the hell out of you guys with them.

* * *

**Qtsweet2003** – My first ever reviewer! Your review really urged me to write the second chapter and then I got more reviews and so on and now I've got a whole story written! I really want to thank you! So, well: THANKS!

**Thespy** – Thanks for beta-reading my story for me! I hope it wasn't too much trouble, but you were great! Thanks so much! And Hermione having the Amulet was a bit predictable, I know.

**Mugglebornwitch2 **– My third ever reviewer! Thanks for all the reviews. :D

**Crawtrapman** – Glad you thought the first chapters weren't bad, because they're the ones that aren't my best work. Thanks for reviewing!

**KoMoTo-DrAgOn** – Another one who really liked my story! Though I may have disappointed you, because I was another one of those writers who took too long in updating, but sometimes I just had no ideas and it was hard to write at all. But thanks for reading and reviewing! (And for really liking my story, of course.)

**BornGryffindor** – Glad you hate cliff-hangers, because I'm really bad in making those. I may have tried somewhere during my story, but of course my Author's Notes at the end blew the 'effect' far, far away. It makes me happy that you liked my story so much! Thanks for reading and reviewing!

**ShadowRogue** – Wow, I can't believe my story was one of the best ones you read! That really made me feel so incredibly happy! But by now you've probably read loads more and mine is just an average one. But that's ok, because you still liked it, and that's all that matters to me. :D Thanks for your reviews! Oh, by the way, never thought chapter 8 was so funny.

**Lee** – Well, I'd never really thought of my story as adorable or cute, but there certainly was a love/hate thing going on, though I never really intended to write that. Thanks for reviewing!

**TeenTypist** – I'm glad you liked my story! And thanks, but you're a really good writer as well! I love your stories! Thanks for reviewing!

**Fresh-AngelBabe** – Yeah, I know, the Mr. Granger/Mrs. Granger thing is a bit too much, but it's just an idea of mine and it's only fan fiction, so it doesn't really have to make that much sense. :D Thanks for reviewing!

**SkinsThunderbomb** – Of course I was going to continue writing this story, and now it's finished and I'm sooo proud of myself! sigh Never knew I had it in me, really. Oh, by the way, sorry for breaking Draco and Nora up later in the story, I know it wasn't what you wanted, lol. But at least they got back together. :D Oh, (again), and you're plotbunnies helped loads and thanks for scolding that one reviewer below you, he deserved that.

**Magnus Thorson** – It's kind of childish that you won't read my story anymore because of something in the first chapter that you don't like. But, oh well, at least you reviewed; it'll add up to the other reviews. :D

**Hp4all** – You are absolutely fantastic! You really gave good reviews with information to make my story loads better and I really appreciate that. Thanks so much!

**SugaQuill03** – Thanks for the review, glad you like my story so much!

**Athenkitty** – You gave so many reviews as well! Thanks! And you gave some good idea's too, like the Room of Hope,. I tried to put them in my story, but I don't think I was able to use them all.

**LorSparrow** – sigh another reviewer. It makes me so happy! Thanks for pointing the little mistake out in the Quidditch practice scene.

**Artless Witch** – Thanks for reviewing! Though I don't think my story is better than yours, because I though yours was really, really good!

**2WNHermione** – Thanks. I completely forgot the name 'Aberforth' and I couldn't find it anywhere! It made me very frustrated. I'll change the chapter where I asked for it, thanks.

**Tarawen **– Thanks for reviewing. Glad you like my story. I read yours once and they were a bit weird, but that doesn't matter, because I thought they were funny, hehe D

**Lillypotterfan** – I'm so relieved to hear you thought the Nora-character was a good addition to the story and that Draco being good was good, too. Most people wouldn't like that, but thankfully you did. Thanks for reviewing!

**Dumbeldave** – And finally you're mentioned! My most ever faithful reviewer:D You're reviews kept me writing as well and trying to make every chapter as good as I could. I'm a bit relieved it's finished now, because now there's no pressure of updating quickly anymore. Of course, it was great knowing that when I finally did update, you were there to give me an encouraging review! Oh, glad you didn't mind waiting for me to update, because there were times when I really was a bit slow. By the way, the last chapter wasn't really that hard to write, because I had all these idea's in my head so all I had to do was write them down. But I'm glad you thought it was really great; I worked so hard on that last chapter, because it was the last one.

**Ted M. Hammett** – I'm sorry, but why on earth would you expect Ron to be with Hermione?

**Ananymouse** – Thanks for reading and reviewing! So glad you liked my story.

**Nicki** – yes, the song lyrics were probably a pain for you, sorry for that. I don't really remember why I kept putting them in… but I'll get rid of them when I go through my story again. Thanks for reviewing!

**Nme** – Why on earth do chapters have to be so long for you to appreciate them? Other people have short chapters throughout their entire story and I don't hear anyone complaining to them.

**Kalieris** – Thanks for the reviews, you gave some really good comments and I'll keep them in mind when I reread my story. Oh, and thanks for bringing my average of reviews up to 2 per chapter:D

**Archelous** – Voldemort fans really shouldn't be proud, you know? They're just sad little losers who have no life and think its cool when some evil guy goes about and kills innocent people. But oh well, it's another review for me, so…

**Enchnated Soul** – Thanks! Makes me so happy to hear that you just couldn't stop reading! That's such a big reward for to get! Thanks!

**(ES)** – Sorry about the Second War chapters, I'm really bad in writing action, but I'll try to fix it up a bit and make it more exciting and better to read. Thanks for pointing that out to me. Thanks for reviewing!

**Misdimeanor? What misdimeanor?** – Wish I coulda been Nora too sigh. Pleased to hear that you like my story. Like your name, by the way. :D

**Liberate** – I know there are some things in there that might not be possible, but it's just a story. Try not to take it too seriously. But thanks for saying it's not horrible. Some people just like to read stories that other people hate, which is how I got my reviews.

**Gothey** – Yeah, well, if you're wondering about my spelling, you big fck, you, it's because English is my _third_ language, all right? So, back off. And dyslexia is no excuse.

**Peachy-Stalcup** – Thanks for reviewing! And for the 'Aberforth' name. I'll try to change it soon.

**Funness** – Thanks for reviewing! Relieved you like my story, and I'm glad you kept on reading, even though there were some things in there that you didn't like! Very much appreciated!

**Sapphirelion** – I tried to put the things you requested in the last chapter, I hope you noticed, because the action scene was very tiny: Nora slaps Pansy. I know, it's not really action, but I mean, they were at a funeral, you can't really expect a fight scene to occur? I hope I explained the Harry and Parvati thing well enough.

**Dickenschickensr2koo** – Thanks. I really hate that name: Finch-Fletchley. It's almost impossible to pronounce and even harder to spell.

**Soramiko** – Thanks so much for all the great reviews! I loved reading them and I'm happy you liked my story! And might I add: I, too, have a fascination with the moon :D

**OCDboutHarry **– Thanks:) _That_'s something I love hearing every now and then!

**Time is the way** – Thanks for taking the time to review, I'm glad to hear the start is good, because that's what makes a reader decide if they want to keep on reading or not. Good to know it doesn't suck, lol.

**Tyson** – EXACTLY! That's the exact same way I feel! The Dementors were completely pathetic, and worse were the Patronus'. You couldn't even see the stag when Harry's behind the bush casting it. And Sirius and Lupin really were badly cast, although I, too, have nothing against the actors. I really liked Gary Oldman in Leon, but as Sirius… well… sigh. But I'm glad you like the story. Thanks for reading and reviewing!


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